A Secret Makes
by Mikauzoran
Summary: Black Org!Kaito After Touichi's death, Kaito's "aunt" comes to take him. Eight years later, Vermouth has grown to genuinely care for her foster son and fears he might learn the truth about who she is and how they came to be a family. Meanwhile, Kaito aspires to earn a codename, flirt with detectives, and help his organization take down the evil organization that killed his father.
1. a Family

Mikau: Hello, hello! Thank you for joining me. I'm writing this for the Poirot Café forum's Prompt Exchange #17. Silvercyanide's prompt was: Shinichi faces off against Kaitou KID in a heist like usual, but Kaitou KID pulls out a real gun instead of his card gun.

I've had this idea floating around in the back of my head for a while now where Vermouth kidnaps Kaito after Touichi's death so she can train him as an Organization operative, and the prompt seemed to fit within that universe, so…yeah. I'm posting the prologue and the first chapter establishing backstory first, and then I'll skip ahead and do the scene with the KID heist and the gun that's the actual prompt. I do have actual plot in mind with Kaito discovering the truth and having to deal with the fact that his adoptive family is a bunch of psycho killers who kidnapped him and killed his father and all that (along with a romantic subplot), but I think this is going to turn into a series of scenes within a universe for now until I manage to find the time and energy to do the whole story. I have a lot of ideas for little vignettes of Kaito interacting with Uncle Vodka and Uncle Gin and the rest of the liquor cabinet as well as scenes with Kaito growing up in the Org. I don't know if I'll do the whole plot, but I'll post what I do write here, as I think people will enjoy Black Org!Kaito. At least, I hope so. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, there would be more Black Organization interactions. Those guys are so much fun…for a bunch of extremely terrifying crazies.

…

A Secret Makes…

Prologue: …a Family

Everything was a blur of confusion and flames, the press of the crowd and hysterical screams. Something had gone horribly wrong with the trick, and Kaito kept thinking that he had to get to his father, though it was impossible to fight the mass of people surging for the exits. Kaito was too little to push his way to the stage amidst the pounding feet of the stampede of humanity. He was almost crushed for his efforts.

A kind man, there with his own children, scooped Kaito out of the fray and carried him to safety outside the theatre, even as Kaito struggled, trying to explain that that was his father on stage and that Kaito needed to get back in there to help because his father could be hurt. The kind man turned Kaito over to one of the female first responders.

No one would let Kaito go back into the theatre. At some point in time, a light blanket was wrapped around Kaito's shoulders and he was given hot cocoa to drink, but he didn't want it. He wanted to see his dad.

His mom arrived what felt like hours later and squeezed him so tight he couldn't breathe. She didn't let go, even when he told her she was hurting him. She took him to the Nakamoris' to stay the night, leaving almost as soon as he had crossed the threshold. She didn't come back until the next morning, and when she did her eyes were dark and sunken in. Her hair hadn't been combed, and she was still wearing the clothes she'd had on the day before.

When Kaito asked where his dad was, his mom sank to her knees, pulled him to her chest, and cried. Nakamori-ojisan had to explain it to him later.

Kaito's mom was sick. She cried a lot, and when she wasn't crying, she sat in silence, staring off into space. She didn't always answer when Kaito talked to her.

Kaito's dad didn't come home, and Kaito slowly started to understand that "death" was like when his dad went on tour, only, Aoko explained, his dad wouldn't come home again. Ever. Aoko had been waiting for her mom to come home again for over three years now, hoping that "death" would wear off eventually.

"But Aoko's starting to think that it doesn't."

Kaito spent a lot of time going back and forth between his house and Aoko's for the next couple of days because his mom was too busy crying and staring at the wall to make sure that Kaito ate and bathed and went to bed on time.

On the day of the funeral, Kaito got to wear the black suit he wore when his dad let him come on stage with him, but it wasn't fun this time. He had to sit still, and he wasn't allowed to shuffle cards or anything.

His mom cried, and Kaito cried too because he wanted his dad to come back and have things be like they were.

After the funeral, there was a party with food and a lot of people, but it wasn't much like any of the parties Kaito had ever been to. Everyone was wearing black and looking grim. People gathered in small clumps, chatting quietly, subdued.

Kaito wandered through the crowd aimlessly, not liking the way all of the adults were looking at him.

"Kaito-kun," a gentle, inviting voice called out to him.

Kaito turned to find a foreign woman with blonde hair and piercing seafoam green eyes.

"Hello?" He frowned, cautiously approaching her.

"Do you remember me?" she coaxed, holding out a hand as she crouched down to his level.

He pursed his lips and wracked his brain. "You look…familiar…." Suddenly it hit him. "Are you a friend of my dad's? You did magic with him, didn't you?"

"That's right." The woman grinned broadly. "I trained with your father. I'm your aunt—your mother's sister. I've been living in America, so we haven't had many opportunities to meet. How are you doing, Kaito-kun?"

"Okay, I guess." Kaito shrugged, trying to put on a brave face. "Sad. I want my dad to come home, but they told me that he can't because he died, so I can't see him anymore."

His aunt nodded. "It's been very hard for you, hasn't it?"

Kaito nodded.

"But you're being such a brave boy," she praised. "You're doing a good job, Kaito-kun. How is your mother doing?"

Kaito's brow furrowed, and he shook his head. "Mom's…not good. She's sick."

The woman nodded knowingly. "That's right. She's sick, and it's going to be a while before she gets better. They're talking about having her admitted to a special hospital where the doctors are especially good at treating her kind of sickness."

"Nakamori-ojisan mentioned something like that." Kaito perked up. The fact that he knew something about what was going on for the first time in over a week made him feel better. "He said I wouldn't see my mom for a while, maybe a month or more, but that she would come back eventually—not like my dad—and that when she did come back, she would be like she was before."

"Exactly," the woman confirmed with a proud smile. "Aren't you a clever boy? Now, you can't live by yourself while your mother is in the hospital, so I've come all the way from America to take you to live with me. I'm going to be taking care of you while your mother is gone."

Kaito frowned. "I can't stay with Aoko and her dad?"

She shook her head sadly. "No. Nakamori-keibu is so busy with work. He wouldn't be able to look after you."

Kaito thought about this a minute before confiding, "Yeah. Sometimes he can't even take care of Aoko."

She nodded encouragingly. "It's better if you stay with family."

The woman stood and lowered her veil. She held out her hand for him to take.

"Come along, Kaito-kun. Let's go pack up your things."

He took her hand and let her guide him away from the eerie party and all of the people who gave him pitying looks.

Chikage, exhausted from the entire ordeal and mentally at her breaking point, assumed that Kaito had gone over to the Nakamoris' for the night, as he had on many other nights. It wasn't until the next morning that she discovered her mistake, and, by that time, Kaito was long gone.


	2. Anxiety

Mikau: Okay. Welcome to Chapter One! I hope you enjoy Kaito and Vermouth's interactions. (Note: There's supposed to be an ellipsis in the title "A Secret Makes…" that ties in with the chapter titles—ideally. We'll see if I have enough ideas to keep the pattern—but apparently fanfiction dot net has a problem with that kind of formatting.)

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd like to do an "A Day in the Life of…" episode/chapter with the Black Org characters. Mysteries, murder, and mayhem are nice and all, but sometimes slice of life style episodes or chapters where you just get to see what characters do in their down time are fun too.

…

A Secret Makes…

Chapter One: …Anxiety

Kaito gently pulled the door flush, slowly releasing the knob so that it wouldn't make a sound and wake his mother.

She knew he had a heist that night, but when you snuck into Kaito's home at three in the morning, there was a good chance you'd get mistaken for an enemy assassin and shot before your identity could be verified.

He flipped the lock as quietly as he could before turning his energies to soundlessly sneaking up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom. He'd only gotten as far as the bottom of the stairwell before a reading lamp in the den clicked on. Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You're late," Vermouth hissed, crossing her arms in displeasure, fingers drumming against her bicep in annoyance.

Kaito cursed. "Have you been sitting down here in the dark this whole time just so you could scare the daylights out of me? Geez, Mom. What the hell?"

"Don't call me that," Vermouth snapped. "And no. I woke up an hour ago, and you weren't home yet, despite the heist having been over since one o'clock, so I've been sitting down here worried sick about my brat. Pour your aunt a drink."

"Yes, Auntie Sharon," Kaito sighed, giving up the pretense of sneaking as he headed to the minibar built into the bookcase by the fireplace. "What do you want? Gin and tonic? Manhattan? Malbec? Pinot Gris?"

"Scotch," Vermouth sighed.

Kaito grinned facetiously. "On the rocks, or…?"

"Neat," Vermouth snorted. "Have I taught you nothing? Only losers drink whiskey on the rocks. It ruins the experience."

"Okay, okay," Kaito chuckled, grabbing the bottle and a suitable glass. "I am an utter failure. I apologize…. Maybe I would remember better if you ever let me drink myself."

Vermouth rolled her eyes, reaching out for the glass. "You're underage here; touch my liquor cabinet and die. You can have wine with meals the next time we're in Europe."

"Can we go back to Paris soon?" Kaito kneeled next to Vermouth's armchair, draping himself over the armrest and looking up at her with pleading puppy-dog eyes. "My French is getting rusty, and I've been _dying_ to hold a heist at the Louvre."

"We'll see." Vermouth threw him a bone as she reached out to affectionately run the fingers of her free hand through his hair. She took a sip of the scotch in her other hand. "How did tonight go anyway, and why were you so late coming back? Pandora?—No. You would have said."

Kaito shook his head. "Nope. Maybe next time, though. There's a new ancient Egypt exhibit coming to one of the museums in Beika next month, and that looks promising."

"I personally think they've got you on a wild goose case," Vermouth snorted, "but what are you gonna do?"

"Yeah," Kaito sighed, leaning into her touch. "If there are people out there willing to kill for this rock, we have to keep forging ahead as if it really did exist."

Vermouth stiffened slightly. Coming within proximity to The Lie always made her heart trill in momentary panic. It had been one thing when he was an eight year-old brat she barely knew and had had forced upon her. Now…he was _her_ brat, and she had a feeling that he wouldn't take it well if he discovered his entire life was a lie. He hadn't reacted well at first when she'd told him about Touichi's double life several months before. She knew she'd lose him, if he ever learned the truth.

"What's wrong?" Kaito's voice pulled her back to the present. "You mentally checked out on me."

"Tired," she sighed. "Getting old. You haven't told me what took you so long getting back. Trouble with the police?"

Kaito bit the inside of his cheek. "Not the police, no." He got up and busied himself with inspecting some of the spines of the books on the opposite wall as if searching for something of vital importance.

"Kaito?" Vermouth rolled her eyes. "Is there really any point in dragging it out? I know you well enough to know you're avoiding the subject on purpose. What is it?"

Kaito paused, fingering the spine of 1,000 Indian Recipes. He pulled out his trump card, knowing it would get his aunt off a topic he didn't necessarily want to discuss until he'd worked out how to break it to her. "Have you heard from…from my other mother lately—my biological one? Or has she completely forgotten about me again?"

Vermouth pursed her lips, eyes narrowing. "I spoke with her caregivers the week before last. She's moved to California, an assisted living community with very good mental health qualifications. She's doing very well, apparently. She's been able to do a couple shows a week and seems mostly stable. They're talking about decreasing her medication."

Kaito nodded absentmindedly. "That's…that's good. Does she ever ask about me?"

"Sometimes. It's been about three weeks since I spoke to her directly."

Kaito pushed the cookbook back into place before pulling it out halfway again. "Do you think she'd be stable enough for me to visit her, or…?"

"Oh…Kaito…Honey… She's not… I don't think… Maybe you could write her a letter?" Over the last eight years, Vermouth had penned many responses to Kaito's letters to Chikage. "It's just that you're getting to look so much like your father nowadays. I'm afraid it would be too much for her."

Kaito nodded. "Yeah. Okay. That's… I'm never going to see her again, am I? She's been in one mental health institution or another for the past eight years, and it doesn't seem like she ever gets any better. Do you think she'd even recognize me? I don't know that I'd recognize her. It's been so long since I've heard her voice."

"We'll take a picture and send it with your letter," Vermouth proposed. "I'll see if they'll send us a picture of Chikage too so you'll have something recent." She made a mental note to reach out to some of her contacts back in America to obtain the picture. "…She really does miss you, Kaito, and she would like to see you, but the doctors don't think it's a good idea at this point. She's just too fragile. I remember her growing up having some issues with depression. She was a strong woman, a fighter, but…losing your father like she did broke her."

Having her child go missing on top of that probably hadn't helped matters.

"I get it," Kaito sighed. "And it's not like I've been deprived of a mother or anything; you've always been there to fill her place, but…sometimes it's frustrating. I mean, I was the one actually in the burning theatre. You'd think I'd be the one with the psychological issues, but I guess grief and trauma are different, huh?"

Seeing his distress, Vermouth decided to bring an end to the conversation about Chikage. "Kaito…come here and tell me what's so bad that you're trying to avoid talking about it by bringing up your mother instead."

"Man, I can't get anything by you, can I, Auntie Sharon?" Kaito chuckled ironically, pushing the book back onto the shelf and coming over to sit on the ottoman in front of Vermouth.

He took a deep breath and blew it out. "So. Don't freak."

"I reserve the right to do just that." Vermouth set down her half-finished glass of scotch, crossing her arms once more. "Out with it."

Kaito grimaced. "So, don't go all mama grizzly bear and go on a maternal rampage or anything, but…someone shot at me at tonight's heist."

The hair visibly stood up on Vermouth's arms and at the nape of her neck. " _What_? You're not hurt, are—no. You would have said…. You're not hurt, are you?"

Kaito held back a fond chuckle. "No. This bozo didn't have anything on Korn or Chianti. He probably couldn't even match up against some of our lower level operatives. The shot went _way_ wide."

"Did you see who it was?" Vermouth demanded, determined to get her pound of flesh for this. "The police? Some outside consultant they brought in?"

Kaito shook his head. "Some third party hiding in the shadows. I didn't investigate too thoroughly in case they'd brought friends, and I was trying to dodge the cops at the time, so…but it was just the two shots, so I doubt there was more than one or two of them. I was extra careful coming home, though, just in case I was followed. That's what took me so long. I took a super circuitous route."

"Good boy." Vermouth nodded approvingly, but Kaito could see that her thoughts were obviously elsewhere.

"You know what I was thinking?" Kaito held his breath. "You don't think it could be that organization you told me about, do you? You know. The one that killed my dad over Pandora—the not-our-organization? Do you think they're targeting me the same way they targeted him?"

"Possibly." It came out just short of a growl.

She was going to find them. She was going to find them and slow roast them over an open fire until their skin blistered and melted off their bones.

"Do you think I could get some backup next heist to keep an eye on the shadows for me?" Kaito inquired even though he knew she wasn't listening. Talking it out made it less scary. "I know Chianti and Korn would think it was a waste of their time babysitting me, but Uncle Vodka would come and check things out, if I talked to him about it, don't you think? He's always looking out for me."

"Kaito, it's late," Vermouth remarked suddenly. "Why don't you head up to bed, Honey? You must be tired after so much excitement."

Knowing the futility of argument, Kaito nodded obediently, getting up to go. "Good night, Auntie Sharon." He bent over to place a kiss on her cheek, and she reached up to give his cheek a gentle pat.

"Good night, Kaito. Good work tonight, Honey. I'm glad you made it home safe." She let her guard down ever so slightly, giving him a tired smile.

He placed his hand on top of hers, giving it a little squeeze. "Yeah. Me too. Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"I'll be right up," she lied, mentally starting her list of suspects as she watched his back disappear up the stairs.

…

Two days later, Gin raised an eyebrow as Vermouth walked into the lounge at HQ. "I hear you bludgeoned Snake within an inch of his life," he chuckled. "Too bad I wasn't there to see it."

Vodka, seated beside Gin, shifted in his chair irately. "I don't care if he was following orders. I would have slit his throat, if I'd gotten to him first."

Vermouth shrugged nonchalantly as she sauntered over to the espresso machine. " _No one_. Shoots. At my kid."


	3. Protection Necessary

Mikau: Hi everyone! Welcome back. First off, thanks so much to reviewers Vyanni Krace, EverThePhantom, and Alice. Second off, this isn't the chapter I promised you with Shinichi and KID pointing a gun at him that responds to silvercyanide's prompt. This weekend. For real this time. I have the draft done; I just need to do the editing, so please be patient until this weekend. Anyway, I did this chapter first because it was next sequentially and a reviewer asked about why Snake shot at KID, so I thought I'd go ahead and do this chapter next. I hope you enjoy it. (P.S.: I love Uncle Vodka, and I hope you do too.)

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd get into characters' backstories more. I know that's not really feasible with the medium's format, but…I really like fleshed out characters, and there are so many DCMK characters that could be _really_ interesting.

…

A Secret Makes…

Chapter Two: …Protection Necessary

"What did you find out?" Vodka demanded upon meeting Vermouth in the corridor going the opposite direction.

Vermouth raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. "Concerning?"

Vodka rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Concerning the most important of the only three topics on which I speak to you. What did you find out about Snake's orders regarding the kiddo? Is this shooting funny business going to happen again? If I need to make some people disappear, I have no problem with doing so. I'll butcher the whole venomous petting zoo, if that'll keep the kiddo safe."

Vermouth sighed, reaching up to massage her right temple. "No. If we kill Snake, there are plenty more who will take his place. Not a lot of people in this organization have the same soft spot for kids that you do, Vodka." She shook her head. "The way it was explained to me, the purpose of the snipers at heists is to keep Kaito believing that there really is an evil organization out there that he's in a race to find the gem with. The unbiased part of my mind understands the logic behind that. Kaito's smart. He wouldn't blindly trust the story about the other organization and keep searching month after month for some mythical rock with no outside motivation. Tactically, it's a good idea to present him with tangible evidence of 'the enemy', but…"

"The biased part of your mind wants your kid safe." Vodka nodded. "…Vermouth, don't you think it would be better to tell him the truth and get him out of this hellhole?"

Vermouth tensed, her eyes narrowing into a knife-sharp glare. "It hasn't come to that yet," she hissed, voice low and threatening like the shake of a rattlesnake's tail. "You keep your mouth _shut_."

Vodka raised his hands to chest level in a placating gesture and stepped back, disengaging. "Okay. All right. Just a thought…. So I take it shootings are going to be a periodic thing? What are we going to do about the sniper?"

Vermouth clicked her tongue in frustration, her nails beginning to bite into her biceps. "I don't know. I don't think there's anything we can do."

"Can't you speak to the Boss?" Vodka suggested hopefully. "I know you've got the Boss's ear."

She shook her head. "Apparently this plan has the Boss's approval. The Boss is concerned about Kaito's loyalty to the Organization. Blatant favoritism of me aside, the Boss is more concerned with making sure Kaito moves like a good little chess piece. That's all he's ever been to the Boss. Supposedly, it's my own fault for getting attached," she spat bitterly.

Vodka's fists clenched. "They're not actually going to hit him, are they? It doesn't make any sense, shooting your own man…. That's not to say such a thing is unheard of around here, but…"

Vermouth closed her eyes, attempting to remain clam, even as her blood started to boil for the third time that day. "I was told that they're not allowed to _severely_ injure him."

"What the hell does 'severely' mean?" Vodka snapped. "They're allowed to wing him or knock his glider out of the sky or get him in the Kevlar, so long as they don't actually kill him?"

It took a lot of effort for Vermouth to force herself to breathe normally. "I think they mean no torso or headshots. That was the impression I got."

Vodka cursed once and then a second time for good measure.

"Yeah. Is it any wonder that sometimes I want to tear this organization down and watch it burn?" Vermouth chuckled darkly.

"And you don't think it's come to the point where it would be best to get the kiddo out of here?" Vodka grumbled.

Vermouth avoided his gaze.

"You're gonna lose him either way, Vermouth," Vodka warned. "That kid adores you, and he knows how much he means to you. Maybe he'll forgive you, even if you are a psychotic, kidnapping murderer. Wouldn't you rather lose him and have him still out there making a life for himself than lose him because this organization you made him a part of got him killed?"

With a flick of Vermouth's wrist and a flash of silver, there was a gun pressed to Vodka's forehead.

He smirked, holding his hands up in surrender and taking a step back once more. "Or we could not talk about that right now."

"Or ever." Vermouth bristled. "Make no mistake, Vodka. I let you be a part of Kaito's life because you're important to him, but you and I are not friends. You do not get to advise me on my parenting. I do _not_ need you telling me how to raise my kid."

"Don't worry, Vermouth," Vodka chuckled. "I'm well aware of our relationship status. You're just a coworker, that crazy woman my partner sleeps with, and the mother of my nephew…speak of the devil." Vodka grinned and waved over Vermouth's shoulder. "Hey, Kai-chan."

"Hey, Uncle Vodka," Kaito returned the greeting fondly, but his smile faltered when he noticed the gun his mother still had pointed at his uncle. "Uh, Auntie Vermouth? Why are you holding Uncle Vodka at gunpoint?"

Vermouth slowly lowered her gun and turned to smile at her foster son. "Hi, Honey. We were just having a little disagreement. No need to worry." She nonchalantly brushed away the tiff. "What are you doing here, Kaito?"

"It's Wednesday." Kaito shrugged, his unease quickly dissipating. "I have lessons with Prof today."

Vermouth nodded. "That's right. I'd forgotten today was Wednesday. Well, don't let us hold you up." She reached out and playfully mussed his hair.

Kaito chuckled, giving his mom a grin. "I'm never going to be too old for you to do that, am I?"

Vermouth pretended to think about it. "No." She smirked as she gave his hair another tussle. "Run along."

"I'll see you tonight, Auntie Vermouth. Later, Uncle Vodka." Kaito raised a hand in parting before turning to go.

"Actually, I'll walk with you." Vodka raised an eyebrow at Vermouth. "I think you and I are done here?"

"So long as you remember to stay out of that which doesn't concern you," Vermouth agreed pleasantly, but there was a threat layered into her voice.

"Noted," Vodka snorted as he turned to follow after Kaito.

"What was that about?" Kaito queried softly as they fell in step.

"Nothin' for you to worry about, Kiddo," Vodka assured, giving Kaito two solid thumps on the back. He waited until they were down the corridor and around the bend where Vermouth couldn't overhear before he added, "Hey, I heard about your close call the other day. You doin' okay?"

Kaito thought about it for a minute. "Yeah. I think so. I was seriously freaked out when it happened, but…I've been in danger plenty of times before on missions, and I know the best thing you can do is stay levelheaded. Poker face your way through it."

"So you're not thinking about quitting?" Vodka inquired hopefully.

Kaito snorted at the very idea. "Hell no. What kind of wuss do you take me for?"

Vodka shrugged, not letting his disappointment show. "One with a self-preservation instinct? But you jump off buildings for fun, so clearly I'm confused."

Smiling, Kaito rolled his eyes. "Clearly. I can't quit now. I'm just getting started, and the fact that they're sending snipers after me is proof that this is worth it. I'm going to stop them, Uncle Vodka. I'm going to do my part to bring them down so that they can't tear anyone else's family apart."

Vodka stopped walking.

Kaito frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Sometimes I forget that actions have consequences," Vodka responded in a pensive tone.

He wondered how many families _he_ had torn apart, but he didn't dwell on it long. He'd long ago accepted that this was the path he walked.

"It's nothin'," Vodka assured, falling back into step beside Kaito. "There's very little I would change, even if I could."

Kaito nodded despite not understanding.

"I just don't want _you_ to have regrets," Vodka added. "You can _always_ change your mind. If you ever decide you want to quit and go be a normal kid, I'll support you. I kind of wish you would go be a teacher or an actor or an engineer or something. This life is dangerous and hard, and I want better for you, Kai-chan. I'm afraid one day you're going to realize that it's not all heroics and save the world and 'for the greater good'."

"I don't think I'll ever regret _trying_ to do the right thing," Kaito reasoned, "but thanks for worrying about me." Kaito beamed innocently up at Vodka. "You know, even though I lost my dad—and my mom too, really—I don't feel like I've lost out on having parents. I'm really grateful to you and Mom for that."

Vodka broke eye contact. Not for the first time, he could understand Vermouth's panic at the idea of Kaito learning the truth. He gave Kaito two more loving thumps on the back. "Yeah, well…we're far from perfect, but at least we care about you, right?"

"Right," Kaito answered without hesitation and then broke into a giggle.

"What?" Vodka looked down over his sunglasses at Kaito.

"Remember my tenth birthday when Mom had to work, so you took me to Tropical Land, so I wouldn't be alone on the anniversary of my father's death?"

Vodka nodded slowly, wondering where this was going.

"And I really wanted to go on the teacups, but you were feeling kind of queasy after all the roller coasters, so I said we could just go home, but then you got in line and said we weren't going home until I had ridden everything I wanted to?"

Vodka kept nodding.

Kaito grinned mischievously at the memory. "And after we got off the teacups, you got _so_ sick, but after you finished puking your guts out, you looked down at me, and do you remember what you asked me?"

Vodka pursed his lips and tried to call back that moment from six years ago. He shook his head. "Sorry, Kai-chan. I'm getting old."

Kaito's smile widened. "You asked me if I wanted to go again, and that was when I realized that I wasn't just some brat you had to babysit but that you actually cared about me. And even though my dad was dead and my birthmother had forgotten about me, I still had a family…it just looked different from how it used to."

Vodka reached out and tentatively, gently patted Kaito on the head.

Kaito laughed, playfully tipping down the brim of Vodka's hat. "Here's my stop. Later, Uncle Vodka."

"Have a good day, Kai-chan," Vodka responded a beat too late, his mind preoccupied.

How the hell was he ever going to keep that kid safe and happy? There had to be a way.

…

Mikau: So, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've made (or have tried to make) Kaito more cheerful than I usually portray him. I think Black Org!Kaito is happier than canon Kaito. In canon, he loses his dad, and then Chikage is kind of an absentee mother throughout his formative years, leaving him alone to basically raise himself. Oddly enough, I picture things going better for kidnapped Kaito. I think the first two years are hard for him, adjusting, but at least Vermouth is always around, and he's got the whole extended Organization family to fall back on after he accepts that he's cared for and has a place with them (as I've kind of alluded to at the end of this chapter). So, yeah. I actually think Black Org!Kaito has a more stable home life than canon Kaito, so if you're ever reading this fic and thinking, "Man, this Kaito seems out of character from the original", you're right! I think the circumstances people grow up with have a tremendous effect on them, so there are naturally going to be differences between this Kaito and the original. Anyway. Thanks for reading!


	4. Social Mores Hard

Mikau: Greetings, friends! As promised, here is the Kaito and Shinichi/Conan chapter with the gun that the prompt asked for. Before you get your expectations raised, it's nothing like you expect it's going to be. That said, I hope you enjoy it anyway. Cue socially inept Kaito. But first, thank you so much to my lovely reviewers: Vyanni Krace, Alice, EverThePhantom, and Mlem.

Disclaimer: If I owned it…well, you see what I do in my stories. Very few murders would get solved, and they'd have to change the category from mystery to drama.

…

A Secret Makes…

Chapter ?: …Social Mores Hard

Things had started out fairly normal as far as heists went. KID's arrival was scheduled for ten o'clock. It was currently T minus twenty minutes, and Conan, separately from the Taskforce, was performing his usual last-minute checks of likely hiding places and key routes through the museum.

He was in the hall of Greek and Roman sculpture when the cocking of a pistol made him go as still as the surrounding statues. The cold muzzle of the gun pressed against the base of his skull, and his mind raced. Could he whip around and disarm his assailant before the gun went off, splattering his brains on the marble floor?

"Boo," KID giggled, and Conan nearly collapsed from relief. "Did I scare you? Your body went all rigid, and it was _precious_. I wish I could have seen the look on your face, but it's impossible from this angle. I guess that's what security camera footage is for, right? Upper left-hand corner. Smile for the camera, Handsome."

Regaining his composure, Conan slowly turned and glared at the thief. "What the _hell_ , KID?" he hissed, sorely tempted to scream and bring the Taskforce running just out of spite but unwilling to cut his encounter with KID short. "I know you're nuts, but are you _completely_ out of your f-ing mind?"

KID shrugged. "Sometimes? Depends. Is insanity sexy?"

Mentally, Shinichi kicked himself. He was not answering that question. _"Stay on topic, Kudo."_

Conan put his hands on his hips and tried not to shriek as he inquired accusatorially, "KID, why do you have a gun—a _real_ gun?"

KID raised the eyebrow not hidden by the monocle. "Protection? I mean, I'm sure you've noticed, but people shoot at me."

"But where did you get it?" Conan sighed, exasperated at how nonchalant KID was being about all this. "You may be an infamous thief, but you're still just a teenager. Where the hell does a teenager in Tokyo go getting a real gun?"

KID frowned, started to grow uneasy. This wasn't how he had pictured this going. Usually his mother and Gin pointed guns at each other, exchanged heated banter, and ended up sneaking away to make out or something. Clearly that tactic wasn't going to work with Kudo.

"My mom gave it to me after the shootings started. She got it through work," KID grumbled.

"What is she, a crime boss?" Conan snorted.

"She's a secret agent, for your information," KID snapped. "She works hard to keep everybody safe, so leave her out of this, okay?"

Shinichi filed that bit of information away for later and went back to being outraged. "Fine. We'll skip the part about your mother being irresponsible."

"Hey!" KID interjected.

"How in the world did you get it into your head that it would be a good idea to hold me at gunpoint? Are you insane? That thing could have gone off!" Conan chided.

"It's not loaded," KID snorted. "I don't understand why you're getting all bent out of shape, Tantei-kun." KID crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his right leg with a pronounced pout.

"Because you pointed a gun at me!" Conan winced as his voice pitched a little too sharp.

"I was just flirting," KID whined. "Fine. If you don't like it, I won't do it again. I'll buy you chocolate or flowers or coffee or something instead."

Conan's mouth fell open slightly, and he gaped as he wondered aloud, "Where are you from that _that's_ considered flirting?"

KID shrugged, coming out of his mope ever so slightly as the anger came out of Conan's voice and expression. "The woman who raised me is American, but, genetically, I think I'm half Japanese, half French. I've lived all over the place, though."

Conan nodded slowly, a little floored that KID was volunteering personal information so easily.

"Plenty of people point guns at the people they like," KID continued defensively. "My mom and the guy she periodically sleeps with point guns at each other all the time. And it's not just them either. The rest of my family does it too. My aunts and uncles are always pointing guns at each other. It's completely normal, like saying hello."

"KID, I hate to break this to you, but your family is seriously messed up…. You do know that, right?"

KID looked down at his shoes and scuffed at the floor, feeling awkward and rejected. "Well…okay. They're a little weird sometimes, but they have stressful jobs, so…but! But it's not just them. I've also read in a bunch of books where love interests often hold each other at gunpoint. It builds sexual tension. It's…like…I don't know. Foreplay or something."

Conan quirked an eyebrow at the thief. "…What kind of books do you read?"

KID's shoulders raised to his ears as he shrank back defensively. "I read a little bit of everything, but…my favorites are spy and trashy romance novels."

Conan nodded knowingly.

"Stop judging me," KID sulked, feeling very much out of his element. "You know, _Hakuba_ never picks on me like this. Whenever I do something he thinks isn't normal, _Hakuba_ sits me down and explains, and then there're usually baked goods or hot chocolate or something afterwards. _Hakuba_ doesn't yell at me or insult my mother or make me feel like a weirdo."

"KID, are you trying to guilt me into taking you to a bakery or a dessert buffet or something?" Conan stifled a chuckle. KID's vulnerable side was kind of cute.

KID straightened up to his full height and responded haughtily, "I'm reminding you that I have other prospects. I don't _have_ to put up with this treatment. Maybe you could stand to court me for once. _Hakuba_ invites me out to eat."

"That's not fair. I don't have your phone number," Conan pointed out, holding back an amused smile. _"Sooo cute."_

This made KID pause mid-pout. He considered Shinichi's argument and replied, "I'll text you later. Then, no excuses. Got it?"

Conan held up his hands in an effort to placate KID. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I got it. I didn't mean to upset you or make you feel bad, KID. I'm just used to people pointing guns at me with the intent to kill, so I might be a little overly sensitive."

"I would never shoot you," KID sighed, the tension draining from his posture. "Not without a _really_ good reason anyway."

"I know, but I didn't know that was you behind me," Conan explained. "I thought it was one of your shadows, come to take me out. It would have been different if I could have seen it was you," Conan fibbed.

KID considered this and then felt really dumb. "Oh. Yeah. Come to think of it…" Usually, his family members were facing one another when they whipped out the guns. It was the same way in the books too.

KID smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Conan returned the smile with a tired grin of his own. "I'm sorry too…for yelling and insulting your mom and making you feel bad."

"…Are we okay now?" KID wondered, voice half hopeful.

Conan nodded reassuringly. "Yeah. We're okay." He glanced down at his watch. "But we're going to be late for your heist. We've got two minutes."

KID cursed softly to himself. "Wait up on the roof for me, will you? There's something important I needed to talk to you about."

"You know, you can call me anytime," Conan offered.

KID shook his head. "I need to talk to you face-to-face…. I'll keep that offer in mind, though. See you after the heist?"

Conan gave a short nod. "After the heist," he confirmed.

…

Twenty minutes after KID had supposedly gotten away, Shinichi was still waiting on the rooftop for KID to come out of hiding.

It was beginning to get a little chilly when a voice called out, "Conan-kun, why don't you come inside? I don't think that thief is going to come back, no matter how long you wait for him."

Shinichi almost did a doubletake as the young police officer approached him.

Smiling wryly, Conan scoffed, "You do know that a pair of glasses isn't a very good disguise, don't you?"

"Oh?" KID smirked. "I guess no one told you either."

Shinichi inwardly cringed. KID had him dead to rights.

"At least I dyed my hair too." KID further rubbed it in.

"You had something you wanted to speak with me about in person?" Conan sighed.

KID nodded, motioning for Shinichi to follow him to the other side of the structure housing the roof access door so that the wind would be somewhat blocked. Once they were in place, KID studied Conan's face intently.

Conan frowned. "What?"

"Miyano Shiho."

Conan's eyes widened before narrowing once more. "What do you mean? Who's that?"

But KID was already grinning triumphantly. "I knew it. That little blonde girl I saw you with the other day. It _was_ Shiho-neechan. I thought so. I mean, if you can be _you_ but look like that, that little girl could be—"

"—Keep your voice down," Conan hissed, a deadly seriousness taking over every one of his features. "You know how you have shadows out to get you? Well, she does too."

KID's face paled, his throat closing up in shock. "Neechan does?" he choked.

Conan nodded.

"I-Is she okay? She was smiling when she was with you and your kiddie squad—what counts as a smile for her anyway."

"She's fine, KID," Conan assured, laying off now that he'd gotten his point across. "She's actually doing pretty well. It's just that she's in danger if anyone recognizes her."

KID worried at his bottom lip. "Well, I'm not going to say anything to anyone. I just wanted to know that she was all right. Akemi-neechan was murdered a few months ago—that's her sister—and then I heard that Shiho-neechan had disappeared too, so I was worried."

"You don't need to. Not too much, anyway." Conan gave KID a reassuring smile. "She could make laying low into an Olympic sport."

The anxious creases in KID's forehead smoothed over, and his lips formed a calm smile. "Good. That's good to know. Thanks, Tantei-kun."

"Was that all you needed?" Shinichi wondered, a little puzzled. "Why did you need to speak to me in person about it?"

"I needed to see your face when I said her name so as to gauge your reaction." KID shrugged with an easy smile. "And I needed to see you in person so I could ask you to give this to her." KID produced a small, shallow box from one of his many pockets and handed it to a frowning Conan.

"Could you tell her Kai-kun says hi and hopes she's doing well? I don't know if she'll remember me. I've been in and out of the country for the past three years, so I really haven't seen her, but…anyway, I've never had many friends, so that's why I remember her, and when I was in Paris a year ago, I remembered that she'd wanted…but if you could just give that to her and tell her what I said, I'd appreciate it." KID smiled bashfully.

Normally, Shinichi would think this was cute, but something about the way KID talked about Haibara irked Shinichi. He wanted to ask KID just what kind of relationship KID had had with 'Shiho-neechan'.

At Shinichi's pensive silence, KID cocked his head to the side. "Please?"

"Sorry." Shinichi shook himself out of it. "I was just detective-ing. You know how I get—deducing the contents, where the box comes from, if the person who tied the bow is left- or right-handed…that sort of thing. Sorry. I'll make sure to give it to her, but wouldn't you rather go yourself so you two can catch up?" Conan bit his lip and forced a grin. It came out as more of a grimace.

KID shook his head sadly. "She has a new life now. I wouldn't want to drag her old one back into it too much. I only saw her smile a handful of times back when I knew her, and most of those were of the wry or wistful variety. I don't want to intrude."

"Okay. I'll give it to her, then, along with your message," Shinichi agreed reluctantly.

"Thanks." KID's face lit up, and it made Shinichi really wonder how KID and Haibara were connected. "I'll be sure to text you later like I promised, but, until then, goodnight, Tantei-kun." KID blew a kiss Shinichi's way before disappearing in a cloud of pink smoke.

"Goodnight…Kai," Conan whispered as KID's glider flew off into the night.

…

Mikau: Because of course Kaito and Shiho knew each other. I might write an omake scene with the two of them later. We'll see. Thanks so much for reading, guys! Bad news: my coworker leaves for Italy tomorrow, and she's going to be gone for two weeks. During that time, I have to do her job and my own job (for those of you who don't know, I work in the litigation department of an international corporate law firm), so you can imagine how much fun I'm going to be having these next two weeks. Maybe it won't be too bad and I'll still have time to write, but we'll see. I have rough drafts of the next two chapters done (one with Shin-chan meeting with Haibara and the other of Kaito and Vodka after this chapter), so I'll at least try to get those two polished up and posted. I can't say what day that will happen, though. Here's hoping to see you again soon!


	5. a Romeo and Juliet Scenario

Mikau: Hello! This week was draining. I cannot wait for my coworker to get back on Friday. My mum is having surgery on her knee this Wednesday, and I have Art History classes starting up next Saturday, so I'm going to be pretty busy. The good news is the next chapter is already written; I just have to go back and edit it, so hopefully I'll be able to update again soon, but it probably won't be until next weekend. In any case, before we begin, thank you very much to Gust-chan, EverThePhantom, and Zoe Nguyen (times two) for your reviews. It's much appreciated. And now on with the show!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I can't decide if I'd have more or less episodes/chapter with the Tanteidan. At some points in the past I've found them annoying, but, as of late, they've really grown on me.

…

A Secret Makes…

Chapter ?+1: …a Romeo and Juliet Scenario

Shinichi headed over to the Professor's house after the heist. It was a little after eleven, but it wasn't a school night, and he knew both the Professor and Haibara would be up.

After being met at the door by the Professor and exchanging cordial chitchat, Shinichi descended into the lab where Haibara was still hard at work. He was a little disappointed when he saw that she was browsing some fashion website for clutch purses.

"Is that really the best use of your time, Haibara?" Shinichi sighed, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Is chasing that thief really the best use of _your_ time, Kudo-kun?" Haibara hummed, not bothering to look up from her search results.

"Pretend I made a witty rejoinder," Shinichi sighed, taking a seat on the stool across the counter from her.

"All right. I'll pretend you said something like, 'I have to show up to heists, otherwise my boyfriend complains that I neglect him, and I'm afraid of losing him to that Hakuba guy.'" Haibara simpered with an evil chuckle. "By the way, Kudo-kun, have you told Hattori-kun that you have a boyfriend yet? You'd best let him down easy, but I wouldn't let it get too drawn out. It will only hurt him more in the long run."

Once Shinichi was finally able to get his jaw back in place, he glared at the scientist. "I swear. One of these days I'm going to hire an exorcist. You are a vile creature masquerading as a woman."

"Ooh?" Haibara stretched out the syllable in mild surprise. "Is that all? You're not going to deny that you're dating a thief or that your best friend is in love with you?"

"Evil," Shinichi hissed. "Fine. If it makes you happy, KID and I aren't in an official relationship, and Hattori's just…his feelings for me are completely platonic; he just gets a little overenthusiastic sometimes."

"If you say so." Haibara shrugged the matter off, but she still looked highly pleased with herself.

There was a beat, and when Shinichi didn't say anything and only continued to silently fume, Haibara turned her gaze towards him and lifted an eyebrow in suspicion. "Well? You've obviously come for some purpose. What do you want from me now, Kudo-kun?"

Shinichi had to laugh at this. "Actually? Nothing, for once, unless you count information. Recent developments have left me with a few questions."

Haibara's eyebrow twitched. "What are you on about?"

"Someone asked me about you tonight."

Haibara stared at him blandly, " _And_?" clearly written in her features.

"They asked about _Miyano Shiho_ ," he clarified.

Haibara's face went talc white, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "W-Who? Who asked you?"

"KID. He told me to tell you that Kai-kun says hi and hopes you're well."

Haibara's brow creased as she muttered "Kai-kun" to herself several times.

Shinichi felt relieved and triumphant when it appeared that Haibara didn't remember KID. That meant it couldn't have been anything serious, if it had been any kind of romantic fling after all. Shinichi wondered if his elation meant that he was a bad person. He felt the tiniest bit bad about it.

"Oh my God," Haibara whispered. " _Kaito-kun_. Kaito-kun is KID?" She looked horrified and slightly sickened by this revelation.

"Apparently." Shinichi shrugged, suddenly feeling defensive. "What's the story between you two? He called you 'Shiho-neechan', so obviously he's a little younger than you. So…what? A schoolboy crush on an upperclassman? No. Then you would be 'Shiho-senpai'. He said you last saw each other about three years ago, so, if he's in high school now, he would have been somewhere between thirteen and fifteen. Did—"

"—Kudo-kun," Haibara snapped, jerking him out of his line of deduction. It was then that he noticed how terrified she looked. "Kai-kun wasn't just some boy from school. He was like _me_."

"Like…you?" Shinichi's brain was unable to process this information. "Like you how?"

"Growing up in the Organization," she hissed.

Shinichi shook his head. "That's impossible. You're confusing him with someone else."

"I assure you I'm not." Haibara's voice was just on this side of hysterical. "Kudo-kun, I know you and KID are…"

"Are what?" Shinichi challenged, showing a little teeth.

"…close," she finished warily. "Fond of one another. I don't know what, but—"

"—He said his mother is a secret agent," Shinichi interrupted, grasping at straws. "Maybe she infiltrated the Organization and is working to bring them down. Maybe that's why he was there. Did you ever meet Kai-kun's parents?"

Haibara shook her head resignedly, seeing that she wasn't going to get through to him. Still, she tried again. "Kudo-kun, the Kai-kun I knew was a sweet, thoughtful boy, but who knows what all has happened to him since then? Please, for your own sake as well as for the rest of ours, don't get involved with him any further. Go back to Ran-san. If you insist on your need to get this fancy for men out of your system, there's always Hattori-kun, but stay away from KID."

"This is ridiculous," Shinichi snorted, lashing out at Haibara because it was easier than entertaining the idea that KID had been toying with him like a marionette this whole time. "Haibara, you're nuts if you think KID has anything to do with _Them_. Sure, he's a little…eccentric, and, yes, he does steal things, but…" Shinichi trailed off, realizing that he wasn't really making a case for KID. "All I'm saying is that there's another explanation for this. Maybe KID did grow up in the Organization, but he's obviously not a member now. Maybe he's like you."

Haibara pursed her lips. "Kudo-kun, I made drugs that kill people. I don't think there's anyone in that Organization whose hands are completely clean. He may not be a deranged murderer, but KID—"

"—People shoot at him at heists!" Shinichi shouted, cutting her off when he couldn't stand to hear it any longer. "You think there are two big, evil crime syndicates in Tokyo? I've been thinking for a while now that his shadows and my Men in Black are the same. Maybe he grew up in the Organization and escaped and now they're trying to kill him."

Haibara shook her head, too tired to fight a losing battle. "Maybe you're right, Kudo-kun. Maybe Kaito-kun is no longer a part of the Organization. It doesn't really matter either way, does it? He knows our true identities, where we live…if he's not a member, fine. If he is, we're already dead, so there's no use arguing about it, is there?"

Shinichi took a deep, steadying breath. "I can prove he's still the sweet, thoughtful 'Kai-kun' you remember." He dug in his pocket and pulled out the box KID had entrusted to him. "He told me he got this for you in Paris last year. He said he'd never had a lot of friends, so he remembered you and remembered you'd wanted this, even though it'd been two years since he'd last seen you."

Haibara tentatively reached out for the box and gingerly tugged at the ribbon, as if she were afraid it was going to come alive and snap her hand off. She raised the lid and nudged the tissue paper aside to reveal a charm bracelet. Haibara gasped.

Shinichi frowned, squinting at the French tag. He didn't recognize the brand name, but Haibara obviously did.

"He remembered," she whispered, delicately taking out the bracelet and inspecting it in awe. "I was half-joking, these things are so expensive, but…" She stifled a laugh. "Oh my God. He probably stole it. I _hope_ he stole it; I can't imagine some fifteen year-old saving up his allowance money for something like this."

Shinichi secretly hoped that KID had stolen it too. He didn't want to think about KID painstakingly saving every yen to buy an expensive gift for Haibara.

"See?" Shinichi snorted. "He's a little whacky, but there's no way he's evil."

Haibara put on the bracelet. "People can be both kind to those they care for and yet still evil. How many killers have you come across that seemed like normal people? You've met serial killers, haven't you, that have also been good fathers? I don't think we can completely exonerate KID yet."

Shinichi sighed. "Yeah. Okay. Sure, Haibara."

"I'm just saying that you need to be careful, Kudo-kun," Haibara chided.

"Right. Well, like you said, regardless, it's already too late." Shinichi smiled ruefully. "If he's one of _Them_ , he already knows about us and everyone we care about."

Haibara shuddered.

"Good night, Haibara." Shinichi let himself out and slowly made his way home to the Detective Agency.

…

When he got back from brushing his teeth, the text alert light on his phone was flashing.

"Hiya, Handsome." was followed by a flirtatious, winking emoji. The next line read, "Dream of me tonight" followed by a heart and signed, "Kaito".

" _Kaito."_

Shinichi sighed, wanting to bang his head against the nightstand. _"Why can't things ever be simple?"_

Pushing down the oncoming wave of sickness Shinichi felt, he typed back, "You sure are letting slip a lot of personal information tonight," trying to keep things light. After all, there was a chance that all of this had a very logical explanation that didn't involve Shinichi's thief being one of his deadly enemies.

"I've decided to trust you," Kaito informed.

Shinichi could almost hear the sweet, innocently flirty tone to Kaito's words.

Shinichi frowned at the screen. The quiet of the apartment felt somehow oppressive with the old man's snoring missing. He kind of wished Mouri would come home from the bar and snap at Conan to put his phone away and go to sleep so that Shinichi wouldn't have to keep waging this internal tug-of-war.

"Oh, Kaito," he sighed, testing the name on his tongue. "What the hell am I doing?"

After all, what _was_ Shinichi doing flirting with the possible enemy when Ran—Ran, the love of his life until just a few months ago—was asleep in the next room waiting for Shinichi to come back to her?

And yet…KID didn't feel like one of _Them_ , so either KID was really just that good and invested in the long con, or Haibara was wrong.

Shinichi cursed. "I hope to _God_ that Haibara's wrong."

"I want to trust you too," he typed back before closing his phone and trying to get some sleep.

…

Mikau: It's been a while since I've written Shinichi in Conan form. I'm having a little trouble deciding how to describe him in writing like with dialogue tags. I think when he physically does something like move or cough or something, I describe that as "Conan dashed" "Conan sputtered", but when it's an internal thing like thoughts, it's Shinichi. "Shinichi thought to himself" "Shinichi internally cursed". But that's only when other people are present that he feels he has to perform in front of. Last chapter at the heist it follows the former pattern of Conan and Shinichi. You'll notice that this chapter is all Shinichi because there's no one present that he feels the need to keep up the act for. He's just himself. Does that make sense? I've neglected to notice how other people do this.

Anyway. Next chapter is Kaito and Vodka after this heist, so it fits chronologically with this one and the previous chapter. Then I've got a little vignette with Kaito and Vermouth, and then I think I'll go back and write "chronological Chapter Three" which is the advent of Hakuba. I think I'll start trying to write the plot chapters in order from there with some omakes thrown in here and there. Sound good? Thanks for reading, guys. I hope to see you again soon!


	6. Omake: Vodka's Relationship Advice

Mikau: Hello, hello! Thanks for joining me, and thank you to reviewers EverThePhantom and northernlion196. A special thanks to sgamer82 (see the disclaimer). Good news! I'm tired, but I survived my coworker being out for two weeks. Tomorrow I get to go to work and only do _my_ job…which will keep me busy enough, but… Also, my mum's surgery went well, and she's actually recovering quite quickly. I don't know how much writing I'll get done this week, but I do have the draft of the next omake done, so there will at least be that for you next weekend once I get it polished up. But first and foremost, here's this week's chapter. It takes place at roughly the same time as the previous one.

Disclaimer: First off, I don't own it. Secondly, I have an added disclaimer this time: sgamer82 is the one who came up with the idea of Vodka being former yakuza in response to the prompt he got for the Poirot Café Forum's Prompt Exchange 8 about Vodka being a family man before he joined the Org. Sgamer's story is called You Can't Take the Family Out of the Man, and I want to thank him for letting me use the idea of Vodka as former yakuza for this fic.

…

Omake: Vodka's Relationship Advice

Vodka was just turning off the TV and beginning to think about heading to bed when someone knocked at his apartment door.

Frowning, he checked his watch. It was eleven twenty-eight, and he wasn't expecting anyone. Vodka grabbed his pistol off the table and headed over to check the video feed on his intercom.

Vodka's frown deepened, but he stuffed the gun into his waistband at the small of his back. He opened the door just as Kaito was about to knock a second time, startling the teen.

"Oh. Hey. Sorry. I know it's late. Am I disturbing you?" Kaito bit his lip, looking like he was regretting coming as he took in the sight of Vodka in his undershirt, tattoos visible all up his arms and curving around to cover both his back and pectorals like a jacket of ink—sakura blossoms, lotus flowers, maple leaves, and the koi fish Kaito had grown accustomed to since childhood.

"You weren't about to go to bed, were you?" Kaito shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"Nah. I was just sitting around watching TV," Vodka assured, stepping to the side and motioning Kaito in. "You're welcome anytime, Kai-chan."

"Thanks. Ojamashimasu," Kaito muttered as he moved into the tiny entranceway—a rectangle of linoleum by the door where visitors could take their outdoor shoes off before stepping onto the wood floor of the apartment proper.

Vodka pulled the set of house scuffs he kept for Kaito out of the shoe cabinet and set them down on the wood for Kaito to step into.

"Everything okay, Kai-chan? How did your show go tonight?" Vodka gave his foster nephew a quick once over for injuries. "Any uninvited guests?"

Kaito shook his head and followed Vodka through the hallway that housed the washing machine and the kitchenette to the living area beyond. "No. I'm okay. Everything went fine tonight…." Kaito bit his lip and hesitated. "I actually wanted to speak to you about something personal."

"At eleven thirty at night?" Vodka raised an eyebrow. "Must be pretty serious. Go take a seat on the couch and make yourself comfortable. I'll make you some hot chocolate."

"You don't have to do that. I don't want to be any trouble," Kaito politely protested as he curled up in his corner of the aging, battered couch, wrapping himself around his favorite throw pillow—the one with the hole from the day he'd moved up from using the trainer to an actual butterfly knife and it'd gone flying out of his hand.

Vodka snorted. "Kai-chan, you know that if you don't drink this stuff, it's going to go to waste. I only keep the mix around for you."

"Thanks." Kaito smiled sheepishly.

"Does your mother know you're safe?" Vodka verified as he heated up a glass of milk and poured in the powder, stirring as he did to keep it from clumping. He knew Vermouth had been antsy about Kaito's whereabouts ever since the shootings had started, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Vermouth's maternal rage, if she found out that Kaito had been safe with Vodka while she sat at home anxiously awaiting her son's return.

"I texted her and let her know where I was," Kaito assured. He'd been chewed out a time too many and had thus begun to be conscientious about making his mother worry.

"Good," Vodka sighed. "Don't want that she-devil on my case."

"Why is everyone insulting my mom tonight?" Vodka thought he heard Kaito grumble.

Vodka poured himself a finger of whiskey and brought the glasses into the living area, setting them down on the scuffed-up coffee table he'd bought secondhand at a recycle shop.

Vodka let Kaito take a drink of his hot chocolate before gently commanding, "So? Spill. What's got you so out of sorts that you need to come talk to me so late?"

Kaito winced. "Do I really look 'so out of sorts'?"

"Yeah," Vodka snorted. "You're all flinch-y and nervous, so stop avoiding the question and talk already."

"You and Mom both see through me like I'm made of glass," Kaito chuckled wearily, wrapping his hands around his hot chocolate mug for reassuring warmth. "Tetsuo-jichan, I have a question."

Vodka didn't respond, knowing his pointing out Kaito's further stalling would only serve to draw the conversation out more and fall in line with Kaito's plan. Vodka would never understand why Kaito preferred to prolong unpleasant conversations like this. Vodka had always been one to rip the bandage right off and get it over with while Kaito stretched the painful experience out by pulling the bandage incrementally.

"You know how Mom and Uncle Gin point guns at each other all the time?"

Vodka frowned. "Yeah?"

"That's _flirting_ , isn't it?" Kaito enunciated as if he wanted his question to be absolutely clear. "That's them _flirting_?"

"Yeah?" Vodka agreed, not understanding what theory he was proving with his confirmation. "Vermouth and Aniki flirt like that…. Why?"

"Because!" Kaito exclaimed in vindication, setting down his mug. "I was talking to this guy who said that it _wasn't_ , and he said that normal people didn't do that, but I told him how my family points guns at each other all the time, and then he said that my family was messed up, but I was _right_ , and it _is_ flirting!" Kaito finished in breathless triumph.

Vodka pursed his lips. He really hated to burst Kaito's bubble, but… "Kai-chan, I'm afraid your friend was right. Vermouth and Aniki might flirt like that, but they're…" How to put it nicely? "…crazy freaks. You'd be hard pressed to find another couple that does that. In fact, you may have noticed that most people don't _have_ guns in Japan, unless they're the good guys or the really bad guys. It's also important to keep in mind that most people in the Organization are at least a little bit damaged. None of us is really a good benchmark for normal."

"So…it's not normal to point a gun at someone you're interested in romantically?" Kaito held his breath as he pleaded with Vodka with his eyes.

Vodka bit the inside of his cheek and sadly shook his head. "No, Kai-chan."

"Oh," Kaito whispered so softly it was barely more than an exhale. Then he cursed.

Vodka had been instructed by Vermouth to reprimand Kaito when he cursed, but Vodka felt that there were more pressing issues at hand. "Kaito, please tell me you didn't point a gun at Hakuba-kun because you thought you were flirting."

"No," Kaito sighed. "Not at _Hakuba_ , no."

Vodka resisted the urge to smack himself in the face. "The other one? Your mystery guy?"

"The other one," Kaito confirmed with an even deeper sigh, burying his face in the throw pillow he had been hugging to his chest.

Kaito said something, but the pillow absorbed the words.

"What was that?"

"I said," Kaito whined as he lifted his head. "Are you absolutely certain that it's completely not normal? In my spy books, sometimes the main love interests point guns at each other."

Vodka pursed his lips. He almost said, "Kai-chan, you read too much", but that would have been cruel. What else was the kid supposed to do when his mother dragged him from country to country every few months, not enrolling him in school so he could make friends his own age and learn what constituted "normal"? Those books were Kaito's primary means of learning about social interaction and the world around him.

Vodka shook his head once more. "I'm sorry, Kai-chan. I should have pushed Vermouth harder to settle down with you somewhere and get you in a school with your peers."

Kaito, looking crestfallen, buried his face in the pillow once more.

"No one can expect you to know this stuff." Vodka tried to sound reassuring. "Does your mystery boy know…" He trailed off, unable to find the right words. Somehow, "…you grew up inside a secret organization with very little exposure to normal people" sounded too silly to ask.

Vodka settled upon: "How badly did Mystery Boy react?"

Kaito lifted his face out of the pillow so as to be understood. "He was really angry," Kaito sulked. "He yelled at me and said mean things, but after we talked about it, he said that we were okay, but I felt really crumby about the whole thing, especially when he said that my family was 'seriously messed up'."

Kaito snorted, voice losing the pouty tone as annoyance replaced it. "He's a detective whose parents abandoned him to go traipsing around the globe when he was thirteen. _He's_ the one with the messed-up life and the messed-up family.

"Sure, my birthmother's kind of lost interest in me, but she's insane, so it's not her fault," Kaito added diplomatically with a nonchalant shrug that belied how much he really did care.

"And you and Mom would never abandon me. In fact, _my mother_ takes me with her when she has to travel for a movie or an Organization job. _His mother_ doesn't do that. And _you're_ always there for me when I need you, Tetsuo-jichan. I mean, heck," Kaito chuckled ironically. "It's nearly midnight, and here you are making me hot chocolate and listening to me ramble and trying to reassure me that everything's going to be okay when I feel like a massive failure. _His father_ isn't there for him like that, so where the hell does he get off calling my family 'seriously messed up'?" Kaito huffed.

"Sure, we're eccentric, but…if I had to hide a dead body, you and Mom would be the first people I'd call. I doubt he could say the same of his parents. That's all I'm saying," Kaito concluded, hugging the throw pillow tighter to his chest as he took slow, calming breaths, trying to reign his emotions back in.

"…Feel better?" Vodka chuckled, feeling oddly buoyant.

He'd gladly hide bodies for this kid.

Not for the first time, he silently thanked the Kurobas. Their loss had given him back the opportunity to be a father—something he'd thought he'd lost forever.

"Actually…yeah," Kaito laughed sheepishly, picking his mug back up and taking careful sips of the still steaming beverage.

"You think you and Mystery Boy will really be okay?" Vodka gingerly tested the ice. "Did he seem genuine when he said that?"

Kaito nodded, careful not to spill and scald himself. "Yeah. Like I said, we talked, and I think we're on the same page now, but…I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he was wrong, so…but I should have known better. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen an anime with love interests holding each other at gunpoint."

Vodka bit his tongue. The kid was having a rough night, and Vodka was not going to say something insensitive like "anime's not real" and punch yet another sizeable hole in Kaito's perception of reality.

"I was also kind of angry about the whole insulting my family thing." Kaito's cheeks colored. "If you hadn't figured that out."

Vodka raised an eyebrow. "You? Angry? _No_ ," he teased.

Kaito rolled his eyes, swatting at Vodka playfully with the throw pillow.

After a minute, though, the look on Kaito's face became subdued once more, and he added, "I also…still kind of feel like a failure. It's like when I first introduced myself to Hakuba and tried to flirt with him all over again. Even though, like then, we talked and came to an understand and things were okay…in that moment, I felt stupid and rejected. I'm not used to that, so it's kind of traumatizing, you know?" Kaito laughed wryly at himself. "Sorry. I know I have no reason to be so upset, but—"

"—It's okay, Kai-chan." Vodka reached out and gently patted Kaito's arm. "Like you said, you're not used to it, and it's upsetting."

Kaito pressed his lips together tightly, struggling to get a handle on his emotions. "Tetsuo-jichan, am I a total freak?"

Vodka balked. "Why would you say that?"

Kaito shrugged his left shoulder half-heartedly. "I don't really seem to fit in with regular people when I'm just being myself. When I'm on a job, I'm playing a part, and I don't have a problem staying in character, but when I'm just Kaito…just acting and reacting naturally, not assuming some other identity or persona…I get the impression people think I'm weird, that I don't act right."

Vodka grimaced as Kaito went on. It pained him to hear his kid was struggling.

"Like at school. I say something or do something, and people look at me like, 'What planet is he from?' When I interact with my classmates, I've started playing the part of 'Kaito the student', basing myself off of characters I've seen in manga and dramas. That seems to be working better. I mean, they still think I'm a little off, but—but the problem is that that's not _me_. I want to make friends as me, not in the character of 'Kaito the student'."

Kaito looked down at his hands, melancholically running his thumb over the creases of his knuckles. "And incidents like tonight keep happening, and I feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Even when I think I do, I'm always wrong and end up metaphorically tripping over my own feet…. It feels like the real me isn't…" Kaito scrunched up his brow and shook his head. "I don't know. I can't explain it. Even with Hakuba and my mystery guy, I still feel like a weirdo a lot of times, even though they're more tolerant and patient with me."

Vodka nodded and gave Kaito's arm another pat. "You're not a freak, Kaito, and you need to stop beating yourself up and agonizing over this. It's not your fault that you're different from most people—it's the Organization's. Besides, not everyone has to like you and be your friend. If they don't like the real you, they're not worth the energy it takes to fret over them. People worth fussing over will like you just the way you are."

Kaito pursed his lips and seemed to consider Vodka's words. "Tetsuo-jichan, I feel like that's something people say that sounds nice in movies and all that, but that doesn't actually happen in real life."

"Oh, yeah?" Vodka chuckled.

Kaito nodded glumly.

Vodka drained his whiskey and sighed. "You remember me telling you about my having had a shady past?"

Kaito nodded encouragingly. "How you were a punk kid and always in trouble even before you dropped out of school and joined a local yakuza family?"

Vodka smiled fondly at the memory. "Yeah. I was a mess, but then I met Saya."

"And it was love at first sight when she asked what she could make for you," Kaito recited wistfully, long ago having memorized the words and their prescribed cadence like a kabuki actor in training to preserve the art for future generations in the same form it had been passed down to him by the generations before.

Vodka had first told Kaito about his wife, Saya, and their fateful meeting at the coffee shop by Yoyogi Station when Kaito was ten, and it had been one of Kaito's favorites ever since.

"You want to tell the story?" Vodka chuckled softly.

Kaito shook his head. "I like hearing you tell it."

"Well, I wasn't going to go into the whole thing again tonight, but my point was that Saya got to know the real me, and she chose me anyway. She stuck with me, even when things got hairy. If a smart, sweet woman like that could see the good in a thug like me, you'll have no problem making friends and finding someone to love you.

"And things will get easier," Vodka assured. "You've only been out in the world, interacting with peers for less than a year now. Maybe this group just isn't the right bunch for you. Regardless, if you stick it out, things will be better by the time you're in university. There you'll have the opportunity to start all over again. Besides, it's not like you need dozens of friends, Kai-chan. A handful of good, close friends will do. If things don't work out with Hakuba-kun or Mystery Boy, you'll have a completely new pool to pick from, come university. You'll find your one true love eventually. You're only seventeen, so there's no need to sweat."

"…Okay," Kaito decided after careful consideration. "I'll stop worrying about fitting in and getting everybody to like me so much…. There's just one thing."

"Yes?" Vodka pressed.

"You said 'one true love', but, in the books, there are usually at least two competing love interests," Kaito pointed out.

Vodka didn't bother trying to realign Kaito's perceptions of the world with the truth. "Fine, Kai-chan. If all three of you work things out and agree, you can have two true loves. Good?"

"Good," Kaito confirmed with a satisfied smile. "Thanks, Tetsuo-jichan. I can't stress how much I appreciate having somewhere to go when it's close to midnight and I'm freaking out about stuff like this. I'm really grateful."

Vodka shook his head, looking spent. "I'm serious: anytime, Kai-chan…. I'm grateful for you too, you know."

Kaito's smile turned bittersweet, knowing Vodka was thinking about Saya and their daughter Minami, both gone, caught in the crossfire of a feud with a rival yakuza family, long before Kaito came into Vodka's life.

"I know," Kaito assured, setting down the throw pillow and rising to his feet. He snatched up his hot chocolate mug and Vodka's empty cup of whiskey. "I should get going before it gets any later. Thanks again for tonight, Tetsuo-jichan."

"That's what I'm here for." Vodka gave Kaito a half smile and reached for the glasses. "I'll take care of those."

Kaito waved him away, taking them to the kitchenette and beginning to wash them. "I'm not a guest; I can help my uncle with the dishes."

"You can also text your mom when you're through and tell her you're staying the night," Vodka instructed.

"You don't have to put me up. The trains are still running, and I can take the Yamanote Line practically straight home," Kaito reasoned. "Even if I do run into trouble, I've got flash bombs, sleeping gas, my card gun, my butterfly knife, and my gun on me. This is Japan, not New York. I'll be fine."

"Are there bullets in your gun?" Vodka snorted, amused. He already knew the answer.

"…Not currently. I've got the bullets, though. I'll load the gun when I need it." Kaito shrugged, rinsing soap suds off the whiskey glass.

Vodka rolled his eyes. "When you need the gun, it'll be too late to load it. Look, I'm tired. If you take the Yamanote Line from Ueno to Shibuya, it'll take around thirty minutes. Tack on five to ten minutes for you to walk to Ueno Station from my house and from Shibuya station to your house, and that's about forty, forty-five minutes before I know you made it safely home. This old man wants to go to bed, so stay the night, will ya?"

Kaito chuckled as he scrubbed the remnants of chocolate off his mug. "Well, when you put it that way…I'll text Mom as soon as I'm done here. You go on to bed. I know where my room and my futon are."

"Much appreciated." Vodka got up and came to give Kaito two solid thumps on the back. "Good night, Kai-chan."

"Good night, Tetsuo-jichan." Kaito grinned, flicking water droplets at Vodka's chest.

"Brat," Vodka chuckled, vigorously mussing Kaito's hair. "Sleep well."

"You too."

…

Kaito finished up with the glasses and headed for the guest room to get out the guest futon. The room had been storage when he'd first met Vodka, and Kaito was pretty sure that it had been converted for his benefit, as Kaito was the only guest Vodka ever seemed to have.

He pulled out his phone and sent his mother a message letting her know the new plan.

He got an answer almost immediately, approving of the plan and expressing surprise that Vodka had actually thought of something smart for once.

Kaito wondered for perhaps the hundredth time if this was what having divorced parents was like.

Vermouth reported that she was headed to bed and wished him sweet dreams.

After sending a suitable reply, Kaito turned his attentions to his "mystery boy". Kaito didn't think about it too hard. If he thought about it, he'd lose his nerve. He figured Kudo was going to find out his true identity soon when he spoke to Shiho-neechan and gave her the gift, but revealing it himself felt like a big step…one that Kaito wanted to take with Shinichi.

"Hiya, Handsome," he typed, followed by a winking emoticon. He sent the text and then added, "Dream of me tonight. – Kaito" along with a heart.

Done. Kudo Shinichi had his phone number and knew his name.

Kaito exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm. All of a sudden he felt jittery as he waited for his crush to reply.

It seemed to take an eternity. Kaito tried to wait patiently, but patience didn't come naturally to him. He tossed and turned until his phone lit up with Shinichi's message: "You sure are letting slip a lot of personal information tonight."

Kaito chuckled affectionately. He could almost hear the snarky tone in Shinichi's voice through the text.

He was right, though. Phone number, appearance, name…Kaito was taking a huge risk, letting Shinichi in. Kaito could imagine his mother chiding him for his recklessness, his carelessness, if she found out…when she found out. She'd been wary enough of Hakuba, so Kaito could imagine what she might say when he told her about Shinichi.

Because Kaito had been serious when he'd confessed to Shinichi. This wasn't some ephemeral love affair for Kaito; he planned on keeping Shinichi around long-term, so it was only natural that Kaito shed all the masks and shelved all of his pretenses. If he'd learned one thing from novels, it was that love couldn't last without honesty, so it was time for Kaito to be honest—completely honest—with Shinichi.

The first step was sharing his identity so that they could meet on equal footing and go from there. Their relationship was still in a fledgling state, and Kaito wasn't sure how Shinichi would react to the real him—because KID and Kaito were not the same, and just because Shinichi was interested in his alter ego, that didn't mean the same attraction would apply to Kuroba Kaito—but Kaito could hope, and if he didn't take this first step, he'd never know.

"I've decided to trust you," Kaito confessed, putting himself out there.

His heart was fluttering in his chest. This felt different from when he'd first approached Hakuba. Sure, he'd been nervous then, but this felt like anxiety on a whole other level.

Kaito fidgeted as it took a full, literal minute for Shinichi to respond, but when he did, it flooded Kaito with relief: "I want to trust you too."

Kaito turned over to giggle like a school girl into his pillow so as not to disturb his uncle, asleep and softly snoring on the other side of the very thin wall.

All of a sudden Kaito felt lighter. The adrenaline slowly left him, leaving him tired.

Luxuriating in the ultimate success of his evening, despite minor setbacks, Kaito drifted off to sleep.

…

Mikau: For those of you wondering why Kaito didn't freak out at Vodka's koi fish tattoo, there's a story behind that. I don't know if we'll get to that, but know that there's a reason. Thanks for reading. Have a great week!


	7. Omake: Two Times Kaito Broke the Rules

Mikau: Hello, friends! Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for…a week or two? Things have been a little hectic, but I finally got this chapter finished and edited. I have the draft done for next chapter too, so I should have that chapter posted next weekend as well. Before we get started, I'd like to thank all those that reviewed last time: northernlion196, DetectivePandaThief, Alice, Zoe Nguyen, lupsss1412, and EverThePhantom. I was so encouraged by your feedback, so thank you again for taking the time to drop me a line. It's much appreciated. And now on with the show.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Vermouth would have her own spinoff manga. I'd like to see her backstory, where she grew up, what her early life was like, and how she ended up as the Vermouth we know and love today.

…

Omake: Two Times Kaito Broke the Rules

Kaito was lounging upside-down in the armchair when Vermouth returned from that night's job. His face lit up when she called out, "I'm home."

"Welcome home, Mom!" he greeted in return, wiggling out of the chair as he hastily slipped his bookmark into the copy of Eugenie Grandet he'd been reading.

Vermouth shook her head slowly and waved a finger at him. "Don't call me that," she protested tiredly.

"Welcome home, Auntie Sharon," Kaito amended, trotting up to give her a kiss on the cheek. "How was work?"

She sighed heavily and shook her head again as she went over to the minibar built into the bookcase by the fireplace. "I need a drink." She stared into the small fridge, taking stock of her supply. She paused, frowned almost imperceptibly, and then closed the fridge door, headed for the vacated armchair.

"Kaito, be a sweetheart and make your aunt a French 75." She sank back into the soft leather of the chair, closing her eyes and propping her feet up on the ottoman.

"A French 75?" Kaito echoed, biting his lip as he called to mind the recipe. "…I can't. We don't have any…" He froze when he realized his mistake.

"Champagne," Vermouth finished for him, slowly opening her eyes to stare down her foster son. "Would you care to explain why we don't have any champagne, Kaito? I could have sworn last night there was still one of those little single serving bottles left in there, but you knew we didn't have any champagne without even having to look. How is that, do you suppose?"

Kaito hung his head in shame. "I was going to replace it before you noticed. The last book I read was talking about the champagne they were having at a party, and I—"

"—Kaito," Vermouth snapped.

Kaito flinched but looked up to meet her gaze. "Yes?" he hesitantly responded.

"What's rule number one?"

"Don't get caught," Kaito recited with a sigh. "Sorry."

"And what's rule number two?" Vermouth pressed.

Kaito could have smacked himself. "When you're cornered, lie your way out of it. I guess I double failed, huh?" he sighed.

"So it seems," Vermouth snickered, the authoritarian tone slipping out of her voice now that the lesson was ended. "Make me a martini, Honey."

"Yes, Auntie Sharon." Kaito grabbed the gin and vermouth. "How many olives?"

"Just one," she hummed, closing her eyes to give them a rest. "And, Kaito?"

"Yes?" He paused with the gin bottle almost horizonal in the air.

"In the future, stay out of my alcohol. You're too young to drink, you precocious brat."

Kaito snorted softly as he began to pour. "Maybe in Japan, I am."

"And I don't want you drinking alone. It's not healthy," she added.

" _You're_ drinking alone," Kaito remarked as he added the vermouth.

"Do as I say, not as I do," she replied in a singsong.

"Sure," Kaito grumbled but then summoned up his courage and frustration and continued, "You know, you treat me like such a child sometimes. It's not like I'm being irresponsible. I'm not going out to wild parties and getting drunk and putting myself in danger or anything."

Vermouth pursed her lips, deep furrows cutting into her brow. She slowly slid her eyelids open and met his gaze. "You want to know the real reason I'm so against you drinking?"

Kaito looked at her with open curiosity. Vermouth rarely went into detailed explanations. Usually "because I said so" was the rule of the day.

Vermouth looked at him with tired eyes and a soft, affectionate expression. "Alcoholism runs in the family, and you've got an addictive personality. I don't want you developing a taste for the stuff."

Kaito's lips rounded into a surprised 'O' even as his eyes widened.

After half a minute of stunned silence, Kaito muttered an awkward "Oh." and went back to mixing Vermouth's martini. "…Which side of my family?"

"Hmm?" Vermouth's eyes had slipped closed once more.

"Which side of my family does—does alcoholism run on?" Kaito tried to keep his voice steady as he quickly flipped through his early memories of his parents, searching for any indication.

"Both," Vermouth sighed. "Your father's father was a mean drunk. That's why Touichi ran away and changed his name as soon as he was old enough to get out on his own. He didn't talk about it much, but I managed to piece things together over the years I knew him. Touichi hardly ever touched alcohol."

"And on my mother's side? Your side?" Kaito frowned down at the glass in his hand. "Should you really be drinking, if you've got increased risk factors for alcoholism?"

Vermouth chuckled quietly. "Don't worry about me, Kaito. I'm no alcoholic. When I say 'I need a drink', I never actually physically _need_ a drink. I go without drinking for weeks for missions, and I don't experience withdrawal from it. It seems that I dodged the alcoholic bullet."

Kaito's frown deepened. "What about my mother?"

Vermouth shook her head. "Chikage…struggled sometimes. The mental health issues didn't help things, and she often used alcohol as a coping mechanism when things got overwhelming. She was never a full-blown alcoholic, but there were times when Touichi and I worried about her. I'm not taking any chances with you, though."

Kaito nodded and handed over the martini glass. "I wish you'd talk to me like this more often."

Vermouth's eyes widened in surprise.

"You know I have a hard time following rules just because. If you sat down and talked to me like this—treated me like an adult, like I'm old enough to understand things—I think it'd be better for the both of us."

Vermouth reached up for his cheek, and he knelt down so that she could reach it. She gently stroked his cheek bone with her thumb, a melancholy shadow in her eyes. "Sometimes I forget what a mature young man you're getting to be. I look at you, and I still see my little Kaito, eight years old and trying to keep his brave face on to make his father proud of him." Her hand moved up to tussle his hair. "All right. If you think you're being treated like a child, say so, and I'll try to step back and explain myself. Good?"

"Good," Kaito affirmed.

"Good." Vermouth cracked a weary smile. "Now go on up to bed, Honey. It's past the time all good little kaitou should be sleeping."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "It's just past midnight."

"But you need your beauty sleep, if you're going to wake up refreshed and ready to seduce those detectives of yours," she hummed mischievously.

" _Mom_ ," Kaito groaned, a blush quickly spreading across his nose and cheeks.

Vermouth laughed at her foster son's expense, suddenly in a good mood, despite how drained she felt from the mission. She decided to let Kaito get away with calling her "mom" this once.

"Good night, Honey." She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

"Good night," Kaito sighed, giving her cheek a reciprocal kiss. His eyes met hers as he pulled back. "I love you."

A twinge shot through Vermouth's entire body like a lightning bolt from her toes to the tips of her hair: equal parts guilt and delight. It was like that every time Kaito told her he loved her. Part of her wondered if he'd still love her if he knew the truth. The other part vibrated with pure joy. No one had ever truly loved her before this sweet, innocent boy, and after eight years together, the sensation was still somehow new and unique every time he said it.

How had she managed to scrape by on her lonely existence for so long without love? Perhaps because she hadn't known what she was missing? Now, she knew for sure, she wouldn't be able to go back to that pre-Kaito life again. The cold void of aching loneliness and constant derision would end her.

"I love you too, Honey." She smiled more easily this time, energized by his words. "Sweet dreams."

"Don't stay up too late," Kaito teased, grinning as he scooped up his book and headed for the stairwell. "See you in the morning."

She watched him all the way to the stairs until he slipped out of sight. Her heart still felt warm from his words.

…

Kaito was curled up on the couch with Like Water for Chocolate, wondering if he could make any of the recipes in the book when his mother shouted down the stairs:

"Kaito! Come up here for a minute!"

Kaito mentally reviewed everything he had done the past week to see where his infraction lay because Vermouth's tone conveyed that she was not in a good mood. And yet, Kaito couldn't think of a single thing he'd done wrong…that she could possibly be aware of, anyway.

"Coming!" he called, striding across the living room and hurrying up the stairs. Best to get it over with. Normally he preferred to stretch things out as much as possible so as to avoid the unpleasant thing as long as he could, but with his mother, she only got angrier the longer you kept her waiting.

"What's up?" he inquired neutrally, going for "innocent" and "completely unaware of anything for which I am to blame". He leaned on her doorframe nonchalantly for added effect.

Vermouth pursed her lips, putting her hands on her hips as she frowned, nonplussed. "Honey, I can't find my red dress. Have you seen it?"

Kaito managed to keep his poker face in place, but on the inside he was cursing. Did he not remember to put it back?! He could have _sworn_ he put it back on its hanger the previous afternoon after he'd gotten it back from the drycleaner.

Kaito frowned. "No. I haven't seen it. Is it not where you left it?"

"No, and I've looked all over for it," Vermouth snorted, a bit of a pout coming into her voice. "Come in here and help me look."

Kaito entered his mother's bedroom and followed her into her walk-in closet. He held his breath as he went over to the rack where he thought he'd put the dress. And there it was. Right where he thought he'd left it.

With a chuckle of giddy relief, Kaito went straight to the dress, pulling it off the rack and showing it to his mother. "Mom, look. It's right here. You probably just overlooked it."

"Hmm," Vermouth hummed disapprovingly. "How funny. Kaito, I have five red dresses, but you knew exactly which one I was talking about."

Kaito blanched, his stomach turning over.

"There's a little elastic strap on the inside of the dress to help keep it on the hanger. I hardly ever use them, but I make sure that they're tucked inside the dress, out of sight when the dress is hung up. You left one of the elastic straps hanging out the arm hole," Vermouth explained, another heaping serving of disappointment in her gaze.

Kaito sighed, hanging his head.

"You have your own dresses, Kaito. Why did you feel the need to borrow mine?" Her hands went to her hips, and she tilted her head to the side, waiting impatiently for an explanation.

Kaito looked at the floor and mumbled, "My dresses weren't right for the occasion."

Vermouth raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What occasion would that be?"

Kaito sighed even more deeply, shoulders inching up to his ears. "Clubbing?"

"Clubbing?" Vermouth snapped. "Where?"

Kaito squirmed. "Shinjuku?"

"Is that where you were Friday night?" she accused.

"I was just dancing," Kaito tried to defend himself. "I wasn't drinking, and I'd never hook up and sleep with random strangers. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong. I just…" The conviction in his voice dropped to an embarrassed mumble. "Sometimes I just like to dress up and go dance with people my own age. I'm not a baby anymore; I'm seventeen."

Vermouth bit the inside of her cheek and counted to three before she responded tensely, "Kaito Honey, I understand that you're a teenager and you want to get out and have fun and mix with other young men and women, but you have to understand that it's dangerous to go to those kinds of places late at night on your own."

Kaito opened his mouth, but Vermouth cut him off.

"—I'm not done. Another thing: that dress is wildly inappropriate, young man, no matter where you were going. You had to know that I would never let you out of the house wearing something like that. You are seventeen, for God's sake, and too young to be walking around half naked."

Kaito opened his mouth to protest once more, but Vermouth didn't let him get a word in.

"—Don't argue with me. That is my slut dress, and you know it. I know precisely how much bosom you had to create to fill out that dress, and that much cleavage is completely unacceptable."

"It's _your_ dress," Kaito huffed, exasperated. "Why'd you buy it, if it was completely unacceptable?"

"Because it's one thing for people to look at me and think I'm a floosy—I don't give a damn—but when it's my child? Kaito, I don't want you going out and having people think you're easy," she stressed, willing him to understand her feelings as a mother.

"That's _their_ problem," Kaito snorted. "I should be able to wear whatever I like. Who cares what other people think? I _like_ the way I look."

Vermouth let out a slow breath, gazing sympathetically at her son. "Honey, I wish we lived in a world where women could wear whatever they wanted without being judged, but we don't, Kaito, and Japan is far more conservative than New York, LA, or Paris. Now, you can wear dresses like that when you're older, if that's really what you want, but, for now, let's pick something a little less plunging in the neckline department, okay? It _is_ still possible to be sexy without showing off how good you are at creating lifelike fake breasts. All right?"

Kaito was silent for a good ten seconds before he finally gave in with a sigh. "Oh, all right. I still think it's ridiculous and unfair, but if it really means that much to you, I'll tone down the va-va-voom factor…. Can I still go clubbing from time to time?"

"Not by yourself, no." Vermouth put her foot down. "Don't tell me you can protect yourself. What if someone slips you something? What if you get ganged up on? It's irresponsible to put yourself at risk like that. Alone, you're an easy target. If you had some friends to go with, I'd feel more comfortable."

"I don't think Hakuba's into clubbing, my mystery guy has a curfew, and I get the feeling that people at school would think I was a weirdo if they found out I dressed up as a girl to go dance with guys at clubs. I've been told that crossdressing and homosexuality aren't as widely accepted as I had originally thought," Kaito informed her bitterly.

Vermouth pursed her lips. "Have you ever asked Hakuba-kun? If that falls through, maybe you and I could work out some compromise. Maybe I could go with you every once in a while and sit at the bar while you dance, or maybe you could tell me exactly where you're going to be and call and check in every thirty minutes…" She trailed off, looking strangely out of her element.

"You're going to call and tell Uncle Vodka about this, aren't you? You've got your 'I need parental collaboration' look on your face." Kaito grimaced. He had the feeling that Vodka was going to launch into a speech about how he would never have let Minami go clubbing alone, if she had lived to be Kaito's age, the next time Kaito saw his favorite uncle.

Vermouth shrugged. "I'm just…remembering all the trouble I got up to at your age, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed."

"You're thinking of blackmailing everyone so they'll take turns babysitting me," Kaito sighed knowingly. "Uncle Vodka and Bourbon would probably do it without the blackmail."

Vermouth frowned, coming out of her reverie. "…Someone mentioned the other day that you had been flirting with Bourbon. What's all that about?"

Kaito smirked mischievously. "It's fun to make him blush."

"You're not getting involved, are you?" Vermouth's eyebrow scrunched together. "He's a decade older than you, and I think he likes women."

"Don't worry, Mom," Kaito assured. "Age gaps like that aren't such a big deal in Japan like they are in the US. You see it in anime and manga all the time. Remember in Cardcaptor Sakura how that one grade school kid is dating her teacher? Totally not a big deal. Amu-chan and my love is strong enough to survive."

Vermouth's jaw went slack, and she stared in horror at her child, too stunned to remember to scold him for calling her "Mom".

Kaito rolled his eyes. "I'm kidding. Relax. He knows I'm teasing. We're friends, that's all."

Vermouth breathed an enormous sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God."

"Besides, I don't think I could handle more than two lovers at a time, so I'm kind of at my limit," Kaito added thoughtfully.

Vermouth went back to frowning. "When are you going to tell me your mystery boy's identity? I could figure it out on my own, if I did some prying, Kaito, but so far I've decided to respect your privacy."

Kaito shrugged. "Dunno. Soon, hopefully. He's the one who's trying to lay low and doesn't want his name getting around. You'd think I was crazy, but I'd have no problem telling you."

This revelation made Vermouth's frown deepen, spreading across her brow, down her nose, and to her lips.

"…Back to the topic of clubbing?" Kaito gently prodded.

Vermouth sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. Let me think about it and come up with a plan. I understand your side of things, Honey, I really do, but—"

"—But you're afraid something bad is going to happen to me if I keep going to places like that without backup. You're worried because you love me. I get it. It just kind of sucks to be the guy without many friends his age," Kaito sighed, face slipping into a pout.

Vermouth stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him.

He reciprocated and rested his head on her shoulder.

He was getting to be almost as tall as she was.

"Oh, Honey," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I know I sound unreasonable."

"Not really." Kaito matched her sigh. "I get it, but…I just wanna go dance."

She reached up and soothingly pet his hair. "We'll figure something out."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, each taking comfort in the other's warmth as they recovered from the encounter.

As they slowly separated, Kaito's eyes widened in realization. "Wow. I guess I failed again, didn't I?"

Vermouth's eyebrow quirked in confusion. "Failed what?"

"You were testing me, weren't you? With the dress. You knew I'd worn it, so you set a trap for me," he explained. "You know. 'What's rule number one?' 'Don't get caught.' 'What's rule number two?' 'When you're cornered, lie your way out of it.' I was supposed to lie my way out of getting caught borrowing the dress, right?"

Vermouth didn't answer right away. He was right. She _had_ been testing him, but…now, knowing what he'd been hiding from her, she suddenly didn't feel so keen on teaching him to be deceptive.

She pursed her lips. "Yes and no. Kaito, I think not getting caught and lying your way out of sticky situations are important skills in our line of work, but I'm starting to think that encouraging you to lie to _me_ wasn't one of my best ideas."

She looked him in the eye and insisted, "Honey, I would rather know the truth about where you are and what you're doing, even if it's sleeping with people or doing drugs, than have you lie to me about going over to Vodka's when you're really out clubbing. At least then I would know where to go if you were in trouble. I know you usually confide in Vodka, and that's good. I'm glad you two have that kind of relationship, but I want you to be able to confide in me too."

Kaito nodded judiciously. "Okay. I'm not promising anything, but I can at least keep it in mind. It's a little hard to be completely upfront with you about everything because you're the one that enforces the rules."

"And Vodka is the one that lets you have a PlayStation after I've already told you no," Vermouth sighed, finally appreciating their relative positions.

Kaito grinned. "Precisely. I'll try to keep in mind the fact that you're just worried about me and have my wellbeing at heart in the future, though." He reached out and patted her on the head before turning to go. "Love you, Mom."

She started to correct him but then let it go. As much as the appellation stirred up pain and fear of exposure and guilt for what she had put Chikage through, she really did like being "Mom", and she was touched that he thought of her as such.

"Love you too," she called after him, not for the first time appreciating the way he had picked up the American habit of saying "I love you". It was almost unheard of in Japan for people to hug and kiss and affectionately touch and let each other know how they felt as much as she and Kaito did. She was grateful for it. It felt like it was slowly making up for the rest of her life.

Vermouth came out of her closet and went over to her chaise longue to place a phone call.

He picked up on the second ring, and before he could say anything, Vermouth pounced, "Vodka, what do you know about Kaito going out to clubs by himself?"

…

Mikau: There are parts of this chapter that I don't really love, mostly because they touch a nerve. I don't personally want to go out in skimpy clothing, but I want to live in a world where women who do want to can without getting hassled about it. So Vermouth's point of view kind of annoys me. Why write a point of view that I don't agree with, you ask me? Because the beauty of being a writer is that it allows you to explore the other side of things and portray opinions that aren't necessarily your own. It's healthy to force yourself to see things from a different perspective from time to time. Anyway, I did enjoy doing the Vermouth and Kaito interactions in this chapter. Those two are cute, and I'm having fun exploring how raising Kaito has changed Vermouth and made her character diverge from canon. I hope you're enjoying their relationship as well. Thanks for reading!


	8. Rivals Part One

Mikau: So, it looks like I lied. Whoops. ^.^; Sorry for keeping you guys waiting. The past two weeks were a lot more hectic than anticipated, partly because my teammates have been sick, and I've been starting to feel a little under the weather myself. It got a lot colder really suddenly in my region. :/ We missed both fall and spring this year. Anyway, thanks to EverThePhantom for reviewing the previous chapter. This one is chronologically Chapter Three. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I've probably said this before, but if I owned it, I'd try to make the relationships more varied. Yes, some childhood friendships do turn to love and work out beautifully, but a lot of us don't meet our partners until later in life. It'd be nice if Sensei could mix it up a little more. Reading DCMK as a teenager always made me feel like I'd failed and I'd missed out on finding love because I didn't have a childhood friend like literally almost everyone in the manga, and that's sad because that's not really how life is. Unfortunately, like Kaito in this fic, I'm someone who learned about life from books, so I had a lot of erroneous ideas about relationships and life in general until I got out there in the real world a little.

…

Chapter Three: …Rivals Part One

The first thing Kaito did after he shook off the stray snowflakes dusting his hair and quietly slipped into his house shoes was retrieve his laptop from his room and sneak back downstairs so as not to wake his mother as he googled the hell out of "Hakuba Saguru".

He had read in the papers that the young, British detective was on his way to Japan to challenge KID, but he hadn't given it a lot of thought. The Task Force had had special guests before, and none of them had been particularly effective or challenging, so when Kaito had heard that Superintendent General Hakuba's teenage son was going to try to stop him, he'd been less than impressed. He'd shrugged it off as typical Japanese nepotism and prepared for the heist the way he always had.

Nowhere had it mentioned that Hakuba Saguru was so phenomenally fascinating. Okay. To be fair, the papers had gone on and on about the number of cases he'd solved and how he'd been fighting crime since he was in grade school and how he was such a genius detective, but those same papers had sung Detective Doron's praises too, and that dope had been a major dupe. The gun part had been interesting—not really in a good way—but, all in all, the guy had been a massive flop. How was Kaito supposed to know a real challenge was coming with the papers always crying wolf?

But the real point was that Hakuba Saguru was interesting—in all the best ways—and Kaito was really hoping he felt the same way about KID.

Not that Kaito had made a good showing what with being late because of the trains, having Hakuba see through his trick with the painting…and Kaito's escape plan…and then there was the shame of Kaito's falling all over himself on the ice as he got away…. (He really hoped Hakuba hadn't seen that. That was just plain embarrassing.) No. Tonight had not been Kaito's finest performance.

And Kaito would have been mortified, except he had internet research to do on Hakuba Saguru, and that seemed like a much better use of his time at eleven o'clock on a Friday night.

Three hours later, Kaito was an official member of two of Hakuba Saguru's fan clubs. He had read all the interviews he could get his hands on in Japanese, English, and French—he really liked that Hakuba was multilingual. He kind of wanted to strike up a conversation with the guy and switch languages just to see what Hakuba's voice sounded like in each. Kaito suddenly remembered that YouTube was a thing and spent forty minutes eagerly devouring his search results. Kaito liked Hakuba's French voice. It was all dark chocolate-melty with just a hint of spice but still proper with something of a prim English lilt transferring over from his mother tongue.

Kaito was in the middle of cultivating a photo collection when Vermouth came downstairs, squinting blearily at him.

"Kaito? What are you doing, Honey? It's almost three in the morning, and you weren't in your bed. I thought…"

"Sorry, Mo—Auntie Sharon." Kaito grinned sheepishly. "I texted you that I was coming home?" he reminded, hoping that that would exonerate him.

She nodded. "I saw that, but when I peeked in your room, your bed was still made, so I wasn't certain that you'd ever made it here. What are you doing up so late? Is everything okay?"

"Peachy. I got the ugly painting, and no one shot at me. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, so go back to sleep, Auntie Sharon," Kaito prompted, gently shooing her, partly for her own sake because he didn't want to keep her up, but mostly because he wanted to go back to browsing the treasure trove of Hakuba Saguru pictures that was the internet. He'd just found an album of photos from one of the Suzukis' charity balls two years ago, and fourteen year-old Saguru was _adorable_ in his teal suit.

Vermouth frowned. "Kaito, come up to bed. You're sixteen, and you need your rest; otherwise, you're going to stay a runt the rest of your life."

"I won't be too much longer. Just another half hour," he tried to barter.

"Give me the laptop." Vermouth held out her uncompromising hand.

Kaito sighed, bookmarking the page, clearing his browsing history, and shutting his computer down before surrendering the device. At least he could still search on his phone.

"And your phone," Vermouth demanded, as if reading his mind.

" _MooOooM_ ," he groaned in three octaves.

"Aunt Sharon," she corrected, bopping him on the nose. "Phone."

"You are the death of fun," Kaito grumbled preceding her up the steps.

"I've been called worse things," she snickered.

…

The next morning, when Vermouth came downstairs to join Kaito at the breakfast table, she set his laptop and phone down in front of him and gave her foster son an odd look. "Explain your sudden, intense interest in this Hakuba Saguru person."

"I'm changing my password," Kaito pouted as he got up and went over to the toaster to put in two slices of bread for Vermouth. He turned the coffeemaker on while he waited.

"You know, I've read books about kids who would call it an invasion of privacy if their parents hacked into their computers and went to the trouble necessary to look at a browsing history they had deleted," he informed.

"Passwords are pointless. Even if I couldn't guess yours, I could still force it." Vermouth rolled her eyes and then got back on task. "As I was saying: Hakuba Saguru. At first glance, I thought you were researching him with a mind to learn his mannerisms well enough to impersonate him, but on closer inspection, this seems more like obsession. Explanation?"

"I'm not obsessed," Kaito grumbled, plating the toast and bringing it, along with a banana and the almond butter, over to his mother. He went back to fetch the coffee before sitting down once more and meeting her gaze. "Hakuba Saguru is my new rival," he confided, a giddy grin surfacing on his lips. "And I _was_ researching him so I can impersonate him, but I was also trying to get to know my enemy, like you always say I should."

"I question whether it's necessary to become a member of your enemy's fan club and collect pictures of him sleeping, in swimming trunks, and in formalwear in order to get to know him," Vermouth scoffed, slathering her toast with almond butter. "…So what is he like?" she finally gave in and asked.

"Oh my gosh!" Kaito practically squealed, beginning to bounce in his seat, breakfast forgotten. "He's amazing! He's so smart and quick and witty. You know how I was saying that the Task Force was kind of getting a little boring because they keep falling for the same tricks?"

Vermouth nodded. "I like it when your heists are a little boring."

"Well, I don't think they will be anymore. I'm going to have to change it up because Hakuba saw right through me last night. He was able to read ahead and get me in kind of a tight spot. I think the only thing I did that surprised him was jump out the window and try to use my glider in the snowstorm, and that was kind of a last-ditch effort on my part."

"I dislike him already," Vermouth sighed.

"Oh, come on," Kaito pouted, nudging her foot with his own under the table. "Be happy for me. I'm super excited about this. A rich, handsome, super-smart young heir to a baronetcy flew halfway around the world to chase _me_! It's like in the books," he exclaimed, arms flailing and almost upsetting her coffee mug.

Vermouth's brow furrowed as she picked up a hint of something in Kaito's voice that she had never heard there before.

A thought hit Kaito, and, all at once, his elation gave way to anxiety. "Gosh, I hope I didn't disappoint him. I made such a fool of myself last night," Kaito groaned. "I wasn't ready for him. _Next time_. Next time I'll make it up to him. I'm going to plan a spectacular heist that will really show him what I can do. I'll prove I was worth coming all this way for."

"Why do you have to prove anything to this spoiled little rich kid?" Vermouth snorted.

Kaito tipped his head to the side "Well, I want him to like me, you know?"

"…Why? He's just another detective in the way of you trying to complete your mission."

Kaito shrugged his right shoulder. "I want him to recognize me as a rival too. I was really impressed by him last night, so I want to make him feel the same way." He shook his head and smiled, the giddy feeling coming back. "I don't know. Last night…facing off against him, it was like the first time I flew my glider. He made my heart race and my stomach do flipflops. No one's ever thrown me off balance like that before."

A sharp pang shot through Vermouth's chest as she remembered a meeting nearly twenty years earlier. Inky black hair, purple-blue eyes, and a pencil thin mustache that quirked with its owner's lips when he smirked. She remembered the first time a man had truly thrown _her_ off balance.

"Why, Kaito," Vermouth chuckled. "I do believe someone finally got his first crush."

The euphoria slowly drained from Kaito's face. He blinked. "A…crush? Me?"

"Mmhm," Vermouth hummed.

When Kaito just sat there looking dumb, Vermouth retrenched. "Don't look so serious, Honey. I was just teasing you."

"Oh," Kaito replied with a strangled chuckle, beginning to look relieved. "Right."

Vermouth grimaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spoil your fun over your new rival. Why don't you go back to telling me about how great he is?"

Kaito nodded absentmindedly. "Sure. Um…well, we speak the same languages, and his mom is a famous fashion designer. He has a pet falcon named Watson. I'm not sure how similar training falcons is to training doves, but we're both obviously bird people, so that will be something to talk about. What else?" Kaito distractedly got out his butterfly knife and started twirling it about. "He reads a lot in his spare time too, so I'm sure we'll be able to discuss any number of titles."

"No knives at the table," Vermouth chided, nightmarish visions of Kaito cutting off his fingers while carelessly swinging that thing about filling her thoughts. What had ever possessed that lug-head Vodka to give her child a knife like that?

Kaito obediently switched his knife out for a deck of cards which he began to shuffle this way and that, occasionally making one jump out of the pack just for fun. "He likes old foreign films too, and on top of being rich and famous and a genius and all of that, he's actually really nice. Polite—a real gentleman. I think we could be friends."

"Except that he's trying to arrest you," Vermouth went ahead and burst Kaito's bubble. She didn't believe in coddling her child too much, unlike Vodka who was always trying to spare Kaito's feelings.

Kaito shook his head. "Not arrest exactly. This is an intellectual game to him. It's like we're playing chess. He wants to win, but it kind of seemed to me that his win condition isn't seeing me behind bars but figuring out what makes me tick. When he thought he had me, he asked why I was a thief. When I told him that it was his job to figure it out, I can tell I flustered him. There's more to him than the rest of the Task Force members who only want to pile on top of the thief and cart him off to jail. Hakuba wants to know what's going on inside my head, so I think he'll tolerate a little moral ambiguity and get to know a thief."

Vermouth pursed her lips. "Kaito, I don't know if I want you messing around with someone like that. He could be dangerous."

Kaito nonchalantly waved away her concern. "That's part of the fun. Besides, if anything goes wrong, I know you and Uncle Vodka and the others have my back, right?"

Vermouth's lips pressed together once more into a thin, pale line. "Never rely on backup as your Plan B, Kaito. Promise me that you'll be careful around this Hakuba boy. Don't lower your guard, even if he seems like he's befriending you. You need to be weary of traps, okay? Promise?"

Kaito nodded, agreeing docilely. "Okay. I understand. I promise I'll be careful, M—Auntie Sharon."

She nodded slowly in return. "Okay. Good boy."

Silence settled in between them as they each turned their attention to the plate in front of them. It wasn't until three minutes later that Vermouth thought to break the silence by asking, "What exactly happened at last night's heist anyway? You told me all about your new rival, but you barely mentioned the actual heist at all."

Kaito blushed and confessed everything.

…

After breakfast, Kaito went up to his room to continue work on his Hakuba picture collection. He had barely booted up his computer and opened the page he had bookmarked when a thought occurred to him: _"Why_ am _I collecting photos of my rival in swimwear and formalwear and in casual settings?"_

There was the obvious answer: recon for a future disguise, but Kaito knew that that wasn't even close to being the main reason.

" _I want to get to know him,"_ Kaito reasoned with himself. _"See what he's like, what his life is like…but you don't necessarily have to collect all these photos and set them as your desktop background to accomplish that, do you?"_

Kaito pursed his lips as he studied one of the pictures he had saved of fourteen year-old Saguru looking socially awkward and more than a little bit uncomfortable at the Suzuki party. He advanced to a photo of a contemporary Hakuba at the beach. It had obviously been taken without the subject's knowledge by some surreptitious paparazzi. Still, for a candid shot, the picture was quite flattering. Kaito switched to a photo taken in conjunction with a magazine interview that showed a confident Hakuba sporting a cocky grin.

" _I just…like looking at him."_

Kaito sat with that a minute or two as he flipped through his collection.

His mother's accusation of "crush" crept up behind him and pounced.

It hadn't been an accusation. She had just been joking.

She hadn't been joking.

… _Had_ she been joking?

"Crush," Kaito whispered, testing the word as he stared at the image of Hakuba's face.

His stomach flipped just like it had the night before.

Kaito took a deep breath and forced himself to look at the situation objectively. This had never happened before. While Kaito wasn't a complete novice in the romance department, he had never personally, as Kaito, had any experience with men _or_ women. He had read enough romance novels that he was pretty sure he could write one himself by now, and he was well-versed in all the clichés and the usual lineup of formulaic plots. He could lay out the basic structure of a romance, and, in fact, he often did for the benefit of the Organization.

For two years now he'd been helping on missions, acting as a honey pot to distract targets, gather intel, plant bugs, and occasionally locate and sequester documents, items, pictures, computer files, and what have you. That sometimes required a high level of seductive manipulation. Kaito was an expert flirt, and sometimes it had been necessary to exchange a little saliva with the target in order to accomplish objectives, but that wasn't _Kaito_ in those situations. That was the job. That was the persona that Kaito had adopted to get the mission done.

It was true that making out had sometimes been a pleasant experience. There had been a diplomat's son that Kaito had purposefully drawn out his time with, an actress, a young politician…but that had been purely physical. There hadn't been any emotions involved.

 _This_ was different, and Kaito didn't know what the hell to do with it. He wasn't even sure what exactly he was feeling. It _was_ true that this floaty sensation he was experiencing, this elation and giddiness, did fit with the usual symptoms of being in love (as he had read about them), but couldn't it also be the excitement of finally finding someone to challenge him? Couldn't it also be the exhilarating anticipation of meeting someone his own age that could possibly become a friend?

Kaito looked at the photo of Hakuba smirking again, and his heart fluttered. He tentatively imagined Hakuba stepping forward, leaning in, and gently kissing him, just to probe his own reaction. Kaito blushed as he burst into a fit of giggles. YES. That was definitely a pleasant mental experiment. Kaito absolutely wanted to replay that scenario in real life.

He set down his laptop on the bed beside him and rolled over onto his back.

"A crush," he hummed.

He finally had a crush.

"So what are you going to do about it?" he sighed to himself, beginning to feel anxious.

He had no clue how relationships between two men worked. The couples in his books had almost exclusively been heterosexual. The gay couples that had appeared were all on the periphery, and it never went into their stories in much depth, so Kaito had never had the opportunity to watch a homosexual relationship develop.

" _Maybe it's the same?"_ Kaito frowned, rolling over onto his stomach. He opened up Google and stared at the search bar.

"Search Google or type a URL" stared back at him unhelpfully.

What exactly did one google when one wanted to learn about romantic relationships between people of the same sex? Could he just look it up on Wikipedia or something? There had to be some advice column somewhere to help him out. He gathered that homosexuality was a pretty rare thing, based on how seldom he came across such individuals in his reading, so it was possible that Hakuba Saguru wouldn't even be interested in him in the first place. It was possible that Kaito was wasting his time.

It was possible that his mother would look at his laptop again while he was out and see his pitiful attempts at researching. She would bring it up, and they'd have an awkward discussion. Kaito _really_ didn't want to talk about things he didn't even understand with his mother. He'd feel foolish.

Kaito shut his computer and sat up. There were two places Kaito always felt safe and never felt foolish: the bookstore and Uncle Vodka's. Kaito decided to start there.

"Mom?" he called as he headed out. "I'm going to Book Off and then Uncle Vodka's. I'll be back in time for dinner!"

…

The bookstore was a bust.

Sure, there were a _lot_ of books about gay couples—a whole section devoted to them, actually—but Kaito got the feeling that those manga were more for women's reading pleasure than anything.

If BL manga could be believed, everyone was secretly gay, even if they didn't know it. Sometimes it just took the right man to make you realize you liked men. This certainly fit Kaito's experience, but he was having a hard time believing it was a universal trend. He definitely _wanted_ it to be true. That way, even if Hakuba wasn't interested in men at the moment, Kaito could always hope that _he_ was the one who would make Hakuba realize that he liked men. Or maybe Kaito would be the one exception like in some of the books he'd perused.

Another lesson gleaned from BL was that gay men had sex all the time. In every chapter, several times a day, often with people they had just met or didn't know well, in all manner of positions that Kaito had never had occasion to consider before (this being the first time he had ever felt a romantic attraction to anyone). It was…overwhelming.

Kaito tipped his head to the side, frowning as he looked at one of the pictures. Another thing Kaito had learned from his research was that gay relationships were even more strict about—for lack of a better term—"traditional gender roles" than heterosexual relationships. You were either the seme or the uke, and Kaito kind of had a feeling he knew which category he would fall into. Kaito was extremely flexible, but some of the positions looked…uncomfortable at best if not anatomically impossible.

Kaito hadn't ever given physical intimacy much thought before, but what he saw pictured, on the whole, didn't look like something he wanted for himself.

" _Is it all really about lust when it's between two guys? Where's all the romance and sweet, thoughtful gestures and gentle, innocent caresses like in my books? Do you only get romance out of men if you're a girl?"_

Kaito closed the manga that the shop attendant had told him was their bestseller with a heavy sigh. He rested his forehead against the shelf and closed his eyes.

" _What's the point? Is this even worth it? I mean, he probably won't even like me anyway, what with how bad things went at the heist last night."_

Kaito straightened up and opened his eyes, pulling up an image of Hakuba on his phone.

Hakuba's smile made Kaito's stomach flutter again.

Kaito smiled back.

" _Maybe things between him and KID are a bust, but he might like_ Kaito _. All the fan sites say he's never had a girlfriend, so maybe I have a chance after all."_

…

Mikau: Imagine if BL manga was the only thing you had to go on when starting to question your sexuality. Poor Kai-chan. I was kind of in the same boat. I went to Catholic school until college, so I didn't meet any other non-straight people until I was eighteen. My understanding of homosexuality came mainly from manga, so I can kind of empathize with Kaito here. Anyway, the next chapter will be another omake with Vodka, and then after that will be Hakuba's first appearance, so look forward to that. I don't know when I'll have the chapters up, though, with how things have been going. Plus, I tend to get depressed and lose the drive to do much of anything when it gets cold. :/ I apologize in advance for the wait. Thanks for reading. Take care, guys!


	9. Omake: Coming Out

Mikau: Surprise! I have another chapter. I actually sat down and wrote this last Sunday night after posting the previous chapter. It follows the previous one chronologically. Someone asked me why these chapters with Vodka are marked as omake since they seemed like regular chapters, and my response is that they don't so much move the plot forward as step back and focus on the Vodka-Kaito relationship and Kaito's feelings on what's taking place in his life at the moment. Anyway, thank you so much to Hikaru Yami 999 and Onnoff for reviewing last chapter. And now on with the show.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, the parents would be a little more involved in their children's lives. Some of my favorite moments from Detective Conan are when Mouri worries about Ran and goes into protective mode. They don't have a very healthy relationship the rest of the time, but those moments are really lovely. It would be nice if the DCMK crew could count on their parents more instead of having to raise themselves.

…

Omake: Coming Out

"Your mother knows you're here?" Vodka verified as he ushered Kaito into the living room.

"I told her where I was going, Tetsuo-jichan." Kaito smiled fondly as he rolled his eyes. "Besides, she can track my phone if she wants to keep tabs on me."

Vodka shrugged. "Just making sure I check all the boxes, Kai-chan."

Kaito quirked an eyebrow as he made his way to his corner of the couch. "Has she really gotten that bad?"

Vodka nodded, going to the kitchenette to make hot chocolate. "The shootings at your heists have her pretty shaken up."

"It's not that big of a deal," Kaito mumbled, grabbing his customary throw pillow with the knife wound and hugging it to his chest. "It's not like they're going to attack _me_ outside of a heist. They're after _KID_."

Vodka blew out a sigh and shook his head. "I hope you never have to find out how terrifying it is for your child to be in danger."

A heavy silence fell between them.

Kaito scrutinized his uncle's face as Vodka brought the hot chocolate into the living room and set the mug down on the coffee table in front of Kaito.

"Do I make _you_ worry too?" Kaito wondered softly.

Vodka met his gaze and held it, studying the youth and innocence he found there. " _So_ much," he confessed. "You put all this time and energy into raising a child, but there comes a point where you have so little control—the kid's bad decisions, a freak traffic accident, snipers or a rival yakuza faction out for revenge…"

Kaito shrank a little, holding his throw pillow tighter.

"I've lost one already," Vodka summarized. "Why shouldn't I worry about you?"

"I don't want you to go grey prematurely on my account?" Kaito tried to lighten the mood.

Vodka smiled and reached out to muss his hair. "Then why don't you get out of the Organization already and become a magician or a bureaucrat or a barista or something? I'd worry less."

With a chuckle, Kaito shook his head. "Tetsuo-jichan, I want to be a secret agent like you and Mom. I want to make a difference in the world."

Vodka frowned. "Become an attorney or a doctor or a social worker or something."

Kaito pursed his lips in a pout. "Why are you always so against me being like you and Mom?"

Vodka let out a weary sigh as he sank into the old, beaten up couch beside Kaito. "Kai-chan, I hope you never find out. Your mom and I aren't exactly the best people. Besides, life in the Organization is dangerous."

Kaito opened his mouth to argue, but Vodka cut him off.

"—But enough about that. You said you had something you wanted my advice on?"

Kaito glared at his uncle's sneaky change of subject but ultimately decided to go with it. He picked up his hot chocolate mug, wrapping his fingers around it and appreciating its warmth. He stared down into its rich, brown depths as he began, "Do you remember when you lost the coin toss with Mom about giving me 'the talk'."

Vodka grimaced. "I remember that intensely awkward day well. And then you had to go and make it worse by already knowing all about it from your voracious reading habit."

Kaito cracked up at the memory of how red Vodka's face had turned when Kaito had interrupted Vodka's carefully prepared and minutely researched speech.

"Oh, sure. You can laugh about it because you're not the one who agonized over scarring a child for life for a full month beforehand. I read more in that one month than I ever had in my life with the exception of when Saya was pregnant with Minami. I read about child psychology and all kinds of stuff I had no clue about for you," Vodka snorted, giving Kaito a playful nudge with his elbow.

Kaito continued to giggle. "Thank you for loving me, Tetsuo-jichan."

"You're freaking welcome." Vodka rolled his eyes with an exaggerated huff.

Even Vodka had to admit that it was actually pretty funny in retrospect, but he was never letting Kaito know that.

A thought occurred to Vodka, causing his eyes to narrow apprehensively. "Hey. You said you wanted my advice on something. Why are you bringing up the sex talk? Is this a conversation that I'm going to want to have—because you're sixteen, Kaito. You might be mature enough physically, but that doesn't mean you're emotionally ready to be sleeping with people, you hear me?"

Kaito raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Relax, Tetsuo-jichan. I'm not planning on sleeping with anyone in the foreseeable future." Especially not after what he'd seen in the BL manga that day. Besides, he kind of had to ascertain whether Hakuba liked guys, go on some dates, get himself into an official relationship, and exchange confessions of undying love with Hakuba first before the whole physical intimacy thing would come into play.

Some of the tension melted out of Vodka's shoulders, but he still eyed Kaito warily.

"But, just for argument's sake, how old were you?" Kaito needled.

Vodka paled.

"Younger than I am?" Kaito guessed. "My age? A little bit older?"

The corners of Vodka's lips tightened.

"And how old do you think my mom was?" Kaito pressed.

Vodka winced. "That's not something I think about."

"From what she's told me about her home life and growing up, I don't imagine she was much older than I am. Is this going to be another one of those 'Do as I say, not as I do' things?" Kaito hummed inquisitively.

"Absolutely," Vodka growled leveling his index finger warningly at Kaito. "Yer mom and me have made a lot of bad choices in life, Kaito. Now, you're a smart kid. Be smart enough to learn from our mistakes and don't go screwing up your own life when we've already gone to the trouble of screwing up for you."

Kaito raised his hands in surrender, smiling fondly at his uncle. "All right. All right. I'm sorry. I was just messing with you. I'm seriously not planning on having sex anytime soon. I only brought it up because when you tried to give me 'the talk', do you remember how I said that I thought I was broken because I had never had any interest in anyone romantically before?"

Vodka's eyebrows knit together. "Yeah, but then I asked you what about your childhood friend…that…Akako girl?"

"Aoko," Kaito gently corrected. "What I felt for Aoko wasn't really…I don't think you could consider that to be romantic love. That was before I even had any idea what love was…not that I'm really any more of an expert now, but…"

"I know you're only ever in Japan for a few months out of the year, but have you ever tried to track this Aoko girl down?" Vodka asked before it occurred to him that that was a very, very bad idea.

Kaito's eyes widened. "I hadn't really thought about it. I kind of…stopped missing her what with everything that was going on after Dad was killed and Mom and I moved away." He grimaced, squeezing the throw pillow. "I doubt there'd be any point now. It's been almost nine years since we last saw each other, and I'm sure we're both…different now. I don't know that we'd have anything in common anymore."

Vodka nodded, trying to keep his relief hidden. He knew that the Organization had obliterated any trace of Kuroba Kaito's disappearance on paper and electronically, but it couldn't wipe out all of the witnesses who remembered the truth without raising flags.

"What about that scientist girl from the Organization…Miyano…Shiori?"

"Shiho-neechan," Kaito chuckled, breaking out into a smile. "It's been a while since I've seen her."

"Yeah, well, you were talking about her pretty often for a while there. I kind of thought…maybe you had some kind of feelings?" Vodka's brow furrowed once more. He didn't necessarily want Kaito to end up with someone from the Organization, but…

Kaito shook his head. "Not like _that_. I admired her because she was so cool and smart. It was neat to spend time with someone around my own age, and, objectively, she is pretty, but I never…it was never anything romantic. I didn't have _those_ kind of feelings for her." Kaito shrugged.

Vodka gulped. "I thought…maybe you did…but you didn't." He pressed his lips together, internally panicking. All these years, he'd assumed that Kaito had had a crush before, that things had worked themselves out in their own time, that Kaito had just been a late bloomer. But now Kaito was bringing up how he thought he was broken again. Vodka had done research, but then Kaito had started talking about the Miyano girl, so Vodka had assumed things were fine. Things were not fine. What had the books said? What was the phrasing that child psychologist he'd spoken to had used?

Vodka took a deep breath. "Remember when you told me that you thought you were broken how I said not to worry about it because you'd develop feelings as soon as you met the right girl?"

Kaito nodded, an eyebrow arching slightly.

"Well, forget that," Vodka instructed. "I read some books and talked to some people, and it turns out that there are some people who…they just don't fall in love like normal people—no. Forget that I said that. It's not that that's not normal. It _is_ normal. People like that are normal, and they're just as good as people who do experience romantic and sexual feelings for other people. There's nothing bad about being…asexual or…" His mind searched for the other term he'd read years ago. "…aromance? A…a…aromantic. That's what it's called. It's…it's okay to not be attracted to other people. Sometimes that happens, and it's okay to be like that, so it's not like there's anything wrong with you or something like that. You're not broken."

Vodka sighed heavily, and remorse flooded his face now that he'd made it through his stumbling explanation. "Kaito, I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner. I was going to, but then I thought you liked the Miyano girl, so I thought I didn't need to—we didn't need to have this conversation." He shook his head, his features screwing up guiltily as he mentally berated himself. "Dammit. I'm sorry. You haven't been walking around this whole time thinking there was something wrong with you, have you?" He reluctantly looked back up at Kaito.

Kaito dropped the throw pillow, reaching out to encircle Vodka in a crushing hug. "Oh, Tetsuo-jichan, no. It's fine. It's okay." He pulled back slightly to face his uncle with an encouraging smile. "I haven't been angsting over it or anything. Yeah, sometimes I got a little lonely and sad wondering when I'd meet the right person, but I always thought you were right when you told me not to worry about it because I'd fall in love when it was time."

"Thank God." Vodka breathed a full-body sigh of relief, and Kaito slowly made his way back to his corner of the couch, picking up the throw pillow once more.

Vodka chuckled giddily, repeating, "Thank God. So long as I haven't screwed up your life or anything."

Kaito shook his head. "No. You're good. And thank you for researching about asexuality for me. You're a good dad."

Vodka stared at Kaito in silence for a beat, not trusting his voice entirely. He reached out and patted Kaito on the head. "I'm sorry I'm not your real one. I worry that he would of done a better job. I know I'm just a thug, Kai-chan, and that trying my best is never going to be as good as if you'd had your real old man there for you."

With a sad smile, Kaito gently nudged Vodka's knee with his foot. "You shouldn't idolize him. He was a human being just like you. Sure, in my memories he was like a superhero, but I've been thinking about it more now that I've grown up a little, and I think that he didn't always put me and Okaasan first. He went out there and got himself killed trying to do the right thing, even though he had me and Okaasan back home…. So…I think that means that…he was a good man, but he wasn't perfect, so maybe if he'd lived to raise me, he would have screwed some things up. So don't worry about it, Tetsuo-jichan. You're doing a good job, and I really appreciate how hard you try. Okay?"

Vodka nodded, reaching out to pat Kaito's cheek. "You're a good kid, Kai-chan."

Kaito grinned widely. "You helped make me that way."

Vodka snorted, rolling his eyes. "I very much doubt that, Kai-chan, but thanks."

"Well, the way I see it, you've got three choices: you helped make me that way, _Mom_ helped make me that way, or I came to you guys already perfect from eight years with my birthparents and magically stayed that way, even after traumatic loss and being moved around every few months for eight years with little stability. Take your pick." Kaito shrugged, smiling mischievously.

Vodka frowned. "Huh."

"Mmhm," Kaito hummed, pleased with himself, and picked up his hot chocolate mug. He let silence rein for a minute as he took a few sips and then, setting the mug down, announced, "I met someone yesterday, and I think I'm crushing on them pretty hard." He snuck a peek at his uncle, barely able to contain his excitement.

Vodka's jaw dropped. "What? Really?" His gruff face lit up. "That's wonderful, Kai-chan! What's her name? What's she like? How did you meet?"

"His name is Hakuba Saguru." Kaito nearly exploded as he was finally about to share his discovery with someone. "We met at last night's heist. He's actually here to catch KID, but don't worry about that right now. He's smart and handsome and funny and really well-read. He's fluent in Japanese, English, and French, just like me, and he speaks a little bit of some other languages too. I cannot _wait_ to sit down and actually have a conversation with him. He's just so—"

"—Wait," Vodka broke in, putting his hands up for Kaito to stop. His eyes were wide, his face ashen. "It's…a guy…you like a guy? A detective…male?"

Kaito nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Don't freak. He's more interested in psychoanalyzing me than putting me in jail. Please don't overreact. I already know Mom is gonna flip when I tell her I have feelings for him, so I really need you to back me up here."

Vodka grabbed his glass of water from the coffee table—missing the first time and succeeding the second—and stood. "I need…a minute." He shakily made his way to the kitchen to raid his liquor supply as Kaito called after him: "I swear that the detective thing isn't a big deal, but I promise I'll be careful. It'll be fine. You'll see."

Vodka dumped his water into the sink and, forcing himself to take controlled breaths, reached for the vodka he kept in the cabinet. He poured himself two fingers and downed it quickly, despite the trail of fire it blazed down his throat. He set the glass down in the sink to worry about later and placed his palms on the cool metal, bracing himself.

His child was gay.

All these years agonizing over Kaito meeting the right girl—a good girl who would love and appreciate him, a girl who would care for him and support him—and his child was gay. Gay in a country that did not accept real-life gay people, despite its embrace of entertainers who pretended to be gay for their amusement and fictional, romanticized gay characters in their smutty comics.

And Vodka was one of them.

Hadn't he himself slung slurs and belittled and turned his nose up in disgust? And now his child was something he had openly hated and abused, but Vodka couldn't hate Kaito.

The cognitive dissonance was giving him a throbbing headache. He needed books. There had to be self-help books about making peace with the fact that your kid was gay. There had to be someone he could go talk to like when he talked to the child psychologist about asexuality. Japan wasn't really big on talking about things like this, but there had to be some kind of resource out there to help get him through this without messing up his relationship with Kaito.

For now, he just had to accept the fact that this was going to be uncomfortable for him and get back in the living room because his kid needed him.

Taking a deep breath, Vodka picked his glass back out of the sink, rinsed it, and refilled it with water. He made his way back to the couch and sank down with a sigh.

"Okay. So you like this-this guy, Hakuba Saguru."

Kaito nodded.

"How do you know you like him?" Vodka tried not to sound too much like he was interrogating the kid.

"He makes me feel all floaty and giddy. My stomach does flips when I look at his picture, and my heart beats erratically when I think about him or watch interviews with him online. That's what a crush feels like, right?" Kaito gazed at him expectantly, waiting patiently for Vodka's verdict.

Vodka considered briefly and then nodded, trying to push aside his own feelings of confusion at how Kaito could feel that way about another man. "Did he show any sign of liking you?"

Maybe Vodka was getting all worked up over nothing…except…if this guy didn't return Kaito's feelings, Vodka would be dealing with a heartbroken Kaito, and he'd be obligated to castrate the bastard.

Kaito pursed his lips. "I'm not really sure. I think I caught his interest intellectually, but…we actually only talked for about four or five minutes before he backed me into a corner and I had to make a desperate escape. I only really got to know him by internet researching for a couple of hours. I'll have to wait and see at the next heist how he reacts to me."

Suddenly Kaito blushed. "I…didn't do such a good job last night. I wasn't prepared for someone like him to show up, so I may have looked a little…" he bit his lip. "…lame. I'll do better next time, though! I've already got plans in the works for another heist on Tuesday, and then I'll follow it up with another Thursday and maybe one over the weekend too. I'll be able to gauge his reaction by next week."

Vodka nodded pensively but didn't verbally respond immediately. He eventually met Kaito's gaze and entreated, "Be careful, Kai-chan."

Kaito opened his mouth to promise he would be, but Vodka held up a hand to stop him.

"No. Don't just say that you're going to be careful. I need you to actually mean it. None of this insisting that everything is going to be fine because your judgment is clouded."

Kaito started to speak once more, but Vodka waved him off.

"Kai-chan, I've had crushes before, so I know what it's like. You may not think so now, but your judgment _is_ clouded. I want you to go into this carefully. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst, okay? Don't let him get you with your back up against the wall. Don't lower your guard just because he's acting friendly. Always leave yourself more than one escape route."

He placed a heavy hand on Kaito's shoulder and fixed him with a solemn gaze. "I'm not going to try to stop you because I know you're just going to go and do it anyway, but I want you to stay safe. Stay smart. And keep me in the loop, okay?"

"…Okay. I will," Kaito promised.

"Okay," Vodka sighed, some of his mental exhaustion beginning to show. He gave Kaito's shoulder a pat before retracting his hand. "Don't worry, Kai-chan. We're gonna get through this together. We'll figure it out."

"Thanks, Tetsuo-jichan," Kaito sighed, beginning to feel better about all the things he wasn't sure about now that he was certain of at least one parent's support. "You know, I was actually trying to do some research on what relationships between two guys are like, and I didn't really come up with any satisfactory results at the bookstore. I was thinking I could read some manga about male relationships like the shoujo manga I read about male-female relationships, b—"

"—You didn't go read that smut manga written for girls, did you?" Vodka was glad he hadn't been drinking anything at that point; it would have gone everywhere.

"It's not all smut." Kaito wasn't sure why he was sticking up for the BL manga, but there _had_ been titles where the sex took place offscreen or, in some cases, not at all.

Vodka groaned and began to rub his temples. "Kai-chan, that's not…that's not how real relationships are. It's all made up and romanticized. It's not realistic."

"But…a rich, handsome, super-smart young heir to a baronetcy came all the way from London for _me_ ," Kaito recited, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. "That's _just_ like in the stories, isn't it?"

Vodka frowned. "Okay, I'll give you that, but your life isn't a fairy tale, Kai-chan. I…may have been a little too indulgent with you in the past. Real life relationships are…messy. I have to admit that I don't personally know anything about gay relationships, but I'm guessing they're a lot like norm—er…like…male-female relationships. I'm…going to do some research, and I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Okay." Kaito took a deep breath and let it go. "Thanks, Tetsuo-jichan."

"Any time, Kai-chan." Vodka reached out to tussle Kaito's hair, giving his child a tired smile.

…

Vermouth actually took the news fairly well. She at least took it in stride. She and Kaito didn't really talk about relationships much—that was more in the Vodka-Kaito realm—but when, during dinner that night, Kaito declared, "You know, I think you were right. I think I really do have a crush on Hakuba," it only took her a beat to regain her composure and reply, "Oh? That's nice, Honey. I'm happy for you, so long as you're careful. I know what you said this morning, but never forget that he's a detective. Don't take unnecessary risks."

She could process this more fully later. After all, she'd already been partially digesting it all day after investigating his laptop and talking with him about Hakuba-kun that morning. Right now her primary goal had to be stressing the importance of the dangerous nature of the situation.

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Vermouth forced herself to listen to his plan without comment as he explained the first time through. After he had finished, she went back and gave her critique. If he was going to do this, she was going to make sure that he was as safe as possible.

…

Mikau: Poor Vodka. He's completely out of his depth, but he tries so hard to do a good job. I'm having a lot of fun with Uncle Vodka. It's nice to give a neglected character some background. ^.^ In other news, I had a snow day on Thursday, so I got a lot of writing done. As a result, the next chapter (in its unedited form) is about 7,600 words and covers four heists. It's all Hakuba and Kaito interactions, so, for those of you who have been waiting for that, I'll try to get that edited and posted next weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. Take care guys, and have a nice Thanksgiving (for all those to whom that holiday applies).


	10. for Unconventional Courting

Mikau: Hi guys! Happy Black Friday and Belated Thanksgiving to all those from the US. And thanks so much to reviewers from last chapter: Hikaru Yami 999, EverThePhantom (times two), and DetectivePandaThief! For HakuKai fans, this is the chapter you've been waiting for. For KaiShin fans, Conan doesn't come into the picture until the Black Star heist in April; this chapter takes place at the end of February, beginning of March, so there will be a bit of a wait, but we'll eventually get there. I can kind of tell this is going to be a longer fic. I can't wait until I get all of the set up out of the way and am able to do chapters with all three of them. -.-; Anyway. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I wouldn't be able to keep coming up with clever heists and heist targets. Please see the four heists described in the below chapter.

…

Chapter Four: …for Unconventional Courting

At Tuesday night's heist, KID got the upper hand, completely sweeping Saguru off of his feet…literally.

Saguru hadn't been expecting too much from the thief after the circus Friday night's heist had been, so when KID caused a blackout and then used a combination of mirrors and lighting to make multiple phantom thieves appear, Saguru was slightly impressed. Then came the firecrackers and flash bombs, throwing the Taskforce into chaos like a box of chessmen overturned.

Officers were bumping into one another and generally playing right into the thief's hand. Saguru was tempted to yell, "Everyone hold still until you regain your bearings! We're surrounded by priceless artifacts that could get broken!", but he knew no one would hear him over the ruckus the Taskforce was making. His shouting capacity could not compare to Inspector Nakamori's.

Someone gently shoved Saguru from behind, making him jump more than stumble.

"Tag. You're it," a mischievous voice whispered at his ear.

Saguru wheeled around, groping blindly in the dark for KID.

"Over here," KID chuckled, taking out a glowstick and waving it for Saguru to track. "Catch me if you can, Tantei-san."

They were off.

KID darted toward the next gallery and out into the hallway with Saguru close behind, following the glowstick. At first Saguru was baffled as to how KID was navigating so easily in the dark. He was about to give KID credit for memorizing the entire route when he noticed the pieces of glow-in-the-dark tape normally used in the theatre to assist actors and crew members in the dark. Tiny strips were marking the corners of display cases and guiding the way to the exit.

"Watch your step," KID called as they approached the staircase. KID took the steps two at a time and then vaulted over the median, further putting distance between them.

At that point, Saguru had to hand it to KID. It took some grace and coordination to pull that off, even with the glow tape.

"Fourth floor, Tantei-san!" KID sang, widening his lead.

Saguru let out a huff of frustration and picked up the pace as much as he could without tripping.

The fourth floor was essentially the attic of the museum, used for storage, and the staircase let out on a dark, narrow hallway. Unfortunately, there was no sign of KID by the time that Saguru made it there, no retreating footsteps or even a trail of glow tape to follow.

Saguru sighed, putting his hands out in front of him as he began to inch his way forward. His eyes were recovering from KID's flash bombs and even getting used to the dark so that he could make out faint outlines, but he couldn't be sure if what he was seeing was a marble statue, a Grecian urn, a regular old flower pot, or KID waiting to spring out at him.

"Over here," KID snickered, flashing the glowstick at the end of the hall.

Saguru heard a door open, and the glowstick disappeared.

"Last door on the right!" KID called.

It was then that Saguru remembered that he could use his mobile as a torch. Rolling his eyes at himself, he got out his phone and pressed the button for the light. This made it much easier to find the last door on the right. Hopefully it would also make it harder for KID to jump out and surprise him when he opened the door and followed the criminal into the room.

"Cheating," KID pouted with a click of his tongue, shaking his head disapprovingly at Saguru's use of electronic assistance.

"That hallway was unreasonably dark," Saguru offered in his defence, turning the torch off. There was no need for it now with the moonlight flooding in through the open window, illuminating KID as the thief leaned nonchalantly against the frame.

"I could have tripped and killed myself," Saguru added, suddenly feeling very lame in the face of his adversary.

"Well, we wouldn't want that. Come here," KID purred, crooking his finger at Saguru like a westerner.

Saguru filed that tidbit away— _speaks fluent Japanese but has western habits_ —and approached his rival. He'd only made it three steps before he found himself suddenly jerked up and hanging upside-down by his ankles. Saguru yelped in surprise at his sudden elevation, but once his mind caught up and realized the trick KID had played on him, he sighed, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"I should have seen that coming."

"Yeah, probably," KID affably agreed, taking out that night's target and holding it up to the moonlight streaming in. He heaved a heavy sigh as he lowered the gem. KID tentatively approached the captured Saguru, stopping a little ways beyond Saguru's reach.

Saguru raised an eyebrow at his rival.

KID held out the gem. "Can you give this back for me?"

Saguru frowned at the jewel in distrust, but that didn't stop him from taking out a pocket handkerchief and accepting it. "This is the _real_ stone?"

KID snorted, giving him a quizzical look. "What would be the point of giving you a fake gem? If I wasn't ready to give it back yet, I could just keep it and then return it when I was done. Do you know how long it takes to make a forgery? The effort that goes into getting it just right?"

Saguru pursed his lips and challenged, "What's the point of stealing if you just give everything back?"

KID wagged his finger reproachfully. "Tantei-san, it's cheating if I tell you."

"You know, you baffle me," Saguru sighed, tucking the gem carefully into his pocket so that it wouldn't fall out. "Friday you were tripping all over yourself. I almost had you, but tonight…I'm the one stumbling over my own feet. Were you just slacking off last time?"

KID shook his head. "Keibu and his men are good officers, but you'll have to admit that they're not really on the same level as you when it comes to analytical skill. Friday, I had prepared for a heist on their level…tonight was for you."

Saguru hoped the dim lighting would mask the slight blush creeping across his cheeks. "And here I was underestimating you based on Friday night's performance," Saguru hummed. "I'll have to step up my game for next time."

"I'll look forward to that," KID chuckled, drawing back towards the window.

"Wait!" Saguru called, and KID paused, tipping his head to the side.

"How did you find me when the lights went out? Were you wearing night vision googles or something? It was as if you could see me."

"Night vision googles probably would have made it easier," KID admitted with a self-depreciating laugh. "I stuck glow-in-the-dark tape on you earlier."

"Earlier?" Saguru frowned. "When?"

"When I pretended to trip and offered you coffee," KID snickered.

Saguru's eyes widened. "You were Officer Morita?"

KID lightly touched the brim of his hat and gave a slight bow. "Any more burning questions?"

"…Are you going to leave me hanging here?" Saguru smiled sheepishly.

KID gave him a skeptical look. "You'll try to catch me if I let you down."

Saguru didn't deny it.

"Don't worry. I'll let them know, and someone will be up to get you in a few minutes. You're not going to have a panic attack or anything if I leave you like that, are you? No medical conditions I should know about?"

Saguru sighed, shaking his head. "No. Kind of you to ask, but I should be fine, so long as someone's coming…even if it makes me feel foolish in front of my coworkers."

KID went still and seemed to consider Saguru's plight. "It's hard…trying to get the adults to take you seriously…trying to prove you can make it on your own merits."

KID's words gave Saguru pause, and it was a moment before he nodded in agreement.

He filed away his hypothesis: KID was young…or at least he didn't yet consider himself an adult.

"Yes," Saguru whispered. "I'm afraid that's it exactly. They only tolerate me for my father's sake; I've yet to satisfactorily prove my worth…and I'm sure that _this_ will make them think highly of me." He searched KID's face, trying to make out his eyes to hopefully catch a glimpse of the feeling in them, but the thief was backlit, and his monocle cast a permanent glare over the one.

"Well, look on the bright side: each and every one of the Taskforce guys has had a lot worse than this. Plus, at least you've got the gemstone to show for your efforts," KID tried to cheer him up.

Saguru took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I do suppose you're right. It's just going to be terribly embarrassing when they find me."

KID seemed to consider Saguru once more. "You have handcuffs on you, right?"

"…Yes?"

"Hand them over. And the key," KID instructed.

Saguru acquiesced reluctantly, unsure of what he was tacitly consenting to.

"Hold out your wrists."

Saguru hesitated. "What are you going to do?"

"Cuff you, gently let you down but keep your feet tied up so you have to untie them before you can make your way over to the key," KID set the key down in a patch of moonlight across the room. "and then uncuff yourself and chase after me. How does that sound?"

"I'll be too late to chase after you once I manage to free myself," Saguru reasoned.

"That's the plan," KID snickered. "It's that or I leave you as you are for Nakamori-keibu and his squad to rescue."

"Cuff me," Saguru demanded, holding out his wrists.

KID made good on his word, lowering Saguru carefully to the ground before making his escape.

"Good night, Tantei-san," he chuckled as he hung out the window. "See you on Thursday!"

Saguru blinked. "Thursday? So soon?"

"Why not?" KID shrugged. "I've got the stamina. Do you?" With a wink, KID was gone, leaving Saguru to work at his bindings.

The detective found himself blushing. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something suggestive about this. He wasn't going to think about it. His job now was to return the gem and start getting ready for Thursday night.

…

Thursday night's heist didn't go much better for Saguru. Thursday, he was caught in a net before the heist even got started.

He had thought he'd found KID's escape route like on the previous Friday, but when he'd gone to tamper with it, he'd ended up suspended from the ceiling in a net. The worst part was the lone dove sitting on the windowsill babysitting him. Saguru was certain that it was KID's minion equipped with video-surveillance capabilities so that KID could keep tabs on Saguru.

"If you can hear me, I'd like you to know that I want a do-over." Saguru sighed. "I suppose this is my punishment for bragging about how I was going to step up my game and then turning around and underestimating you a second time."

The dove made a well-timed cooing noise.

Saguru rubbed at his temples, muttering, "You better have another heist soon so that I can make up for my pathetic performance. I demand an opportunity to redeem my honor."

It was a full fifteen minutes later when KID dropped by, fresh from his heist and casually tossing that night's target up and catching it repeatedly.

Saguru gave a start when the door creaked open, afraid one of the Taskforce officers had stumbled upon his disgrace. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was merely the thief. "Good evening." He waved in a cool and collected fashion, preserving as much of his dignity as possible.

KID chuckled. "Good evening, Tantei-san."

The dove flew to her master, perching comfortably on top of his hat, confirming Saguru's hypothesis: the dove was an enemy spy.

"Shame on you for looking down on me," KID teased, one hand going to his hip while the other shook a finger at Saguru. "Did you really think I would telegraph my escape route and not lay a trap for you after what happened less than a week ago?"

Saguru had the decency to blush as he shrugged. "Call it hubris."

KID clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Shame on you, Tantei-san…and were you too proud to call in backup to get you out of the net?"

"You assumed that I would be, otherwise you wouldn't have come here to chat after getting away from the Taskforce," Saguru countered, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his feet braced against the rope.

KID snatched the jewel out of the air and smirked. "Cor-rect." He went to the window and held the stone up to the moonlight. He sighed as he lowered the gem.

"Why do you do that?" Saguru wondered aloud.

"That's—"

"—cheating?" Saguru guessed.

KID turned back to face him and smiled wryly. "Good to know you're paying attention."

"Will you tell me when I catch you?" Saguru countered. "Or do I have to figure it out myself?"

"' _When'_ you catch me?" KID snorted, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall by the window. "You're pretty cocky for someone who's caught in a net. I believe the score stands as two to zero out of three possible opportunities with me catching you more often than you catch me."

"…Point," Saguru conceded. "But I only have to catch you _once_."

KID shook his head with a "tsk, tsk". "I would have to _stay_ caught once for you to win."

Saguru pursed his lips and considered.

"Though, catching me isn't really winning for you, is it?" KID prompted.

Saguru didn't respond, but his sheepish expression said enough.

KID grinned in triumph. "That's why I like you. I'm partial to an intellectual challenge myself."

"But the intellectual challenge isn't why you do this," Saguru observed, crossing that motive off of his mental list.

"Not when I started off against Nakamori-keibu and his men, no," KID snorted. "I respect those guys, and they're good at their jobs when they stick to fraud cases, but they're not really equipped to deal with someone like me."

KID peeled himself off of the wall and advanced on Saguru who raised an eyebrow curiously but, otherwise, didn't react. KID stopped at the very extremity of Saguru's reach and held out the jewel. "Give this back for me?"

Saguru got out his pocket handkerchief and accepted the gem. "Gladly."

"And here's something for your trouble." With a flick of his wrist, KID produced a lavender rose.

Saguru blinked and hesitantly reached for it, gingerly taking the stem between two fingers and studying the bloom. He tentatively sniffed it.

KID laughed. "It's not going to bite you. It's just a gift."

Saguru's brow creased as he sized up the thief. "Are you flirting with me?"

KID rocked forward and back onto his heels. "Maaaaybe. Depends on whether or not you like it."

Saguru's ears began to burn, and he focused on the rose to avoid meeting KID's gaze. He'd been trying not to think like that about his rival; he'd intended to keep it professional. "I'm sure you flirt with all of your Taskforce members. I've heard the rumors. If I said I disliked it, you'd probably tease me all the more just to get a rise out of me."

"True," KID admitted. "I'm a flirt, but that doesn't mean that you're not still special."

Saguru almost fumbled the rose.

"…I don't hear you protesting, Tantei-san," KID crooned. "I'm going to take your silence as consent."

Saguru managed to ignore the rushing sound in his ears long enough to object. "Stop. I ask that you not belittle me in front of the rest of the Taskforce. I have a tenuous position among them at present, and I don't want you doing anything to endanger the others' opinions of me."

"Flirting and belittling are hardly the same thing, Tantei-san." KID rolled his eyes. "What I'm hearing you say is that it _is_ okay to court you when it's just the two of us."

"C-Court?" Saguru choked, making the mistake of meeting KID's gaze.

The monocle glinted in the moonlight, but KID's other eye was visible, and it was glinting mischievously.

Saguru's entire face went vermillion.

KID smirked and turned to leave, throwing a wave back over his shoulder. "Bonsoir, mon cher détective."

"Wait!" Saguru squeaked.

KID slowly turned round. "Yeeees?"

Saguru took a deep breath and swallowed his pride. "I don't suppose you could let me out of here? Please?"

KID considered, taking almost a comically long time to appreciate the sight of Saguru captured and virtually begging for assistance. "I'm going to give you a knife to cut yourself free," KID finally decided. "But you're not allowed to test it for fingerprints or anything like that. I'm being nice, remember, and if you bite me once, I'll gladly leave you to face the derision of your coworkers the next time…likely in a dress with hair dyed pink. Understood?"

"I won't try to figure out your identity from the knife," Saguru promised. "It would be cheating to catch you like that. Besides, where would be the fun in that?"

"Glad to see we're on the same page." KID grinned his approval. "Another thing." He whipped out a butterfly knife and rubbed it clean on his jacket before handing it, handle first, to Saguru. "This knife is important to me, so you have to give it back. Once you're free, put the knife behind the pedestal in that corner there. I'll come and collect it."

"A balisong?" Saguru's eyes widened as he studied the knife, turning it over in his hands.

"Do be careful, Tantei-san." KID winced. "Good night. See you Sunday."

"Until then," Saguru returned. "I promise to do better on Sunday…. Thank you, KID."

"Any time," KID snickered and was gone.

Saguru sighed and set about the task of setting himself free. It was hard to do without bruising the petals of his rose with his vigorous sawing movements, and the egg-sized gem in his pocket made the drawn-out process uncomfortable.

He became distracted several times by the butterfly knife. He was tempted to study it so as to learn more about its owner, but he felt that that would be considered cheating and a breach of KID's trust. After he nicked himself twice, he forced himself to focus just on cutting the ropes.

…

Sunday's heist was slightly different. It took place in the ballroom of a hotel in Haido-cho where a group of people with too much money for their own good was gathered to display their obnoxious wealth.

One of the main exhibits was a watermelon tourmaline—purportedly once the possession of a favored Babylonian concubine during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. That was KID's target for the evening, and they were keeping it heavily guarded in a display case at the north end of the ballroom.

KID would probably make a flashy entrance, sleep gas those around the case, and then grab the gem and run. Saguru had yet to see KID use sleeping gas in any of the previous three heists, but he had read in many reports officers' descriptions of the cotton-mouth feel that came after being exposed.

Saguru had no desire to experience these effects firsthand, so he was keeping a reasonable distance from the case, standing over to the side with his back to a pillar so that he could monitor the situation and react when necessary without getting dragged into the initial fray.

Saguru was absorbed in keeping watch when, right in front of him, a young woman in a red cocktail dress tripped in her three-inch heels, letting out a squeak of a scream as she went down.

Almost without thinking, Saguru lunged forward to catch and steady her. "Are you all right, Miss?"

The girl gazed up at him through long eyelashes with cinnamon brown eyes full of alarm. "You're Hakuba Saguru," she gasped, palms still flat against his chest.

"Er…yes," Saguru replied with a bashful smile, all the while half holding the young woman up.

"Oh!" the girl finally came to her senses and realized the position they were in. She blushed profusely and pulled back. "Do forgive me." She wobbled a bit but eventually regained her balance. "I'm not used to fancy shoes like this. I borrowed them from my mom."

"Not to worry," Saguru assured. "You're certainly doing better than I could ever hope to in heels."

The girl laughed sheepishly, grateful for his attempt to make light of the situation. "In all seriousness, thank you for your assistance, Detective Hakuba."

"My pleasure." Saguru gave her one of his practiced charming grins.

She pursed her lips, hesitating before asking, "Detective Hakuba, I hope you don't think me too forward, but…do you think you'll capture KID tonight? You're the one that's gotten closest so far, but it must be harder in a setting like this where KID can disappear into such a large crowd."

"That's undoubtedly true," Saguru agreed, offering a temperate response. "I'll certainly do my best to keep KID from escaping with his target, but you're right that this arena poses an added challenge."

"What a diplomatic response," she chuckled, batting her eyes. "Aren't you confident in your own abilities, Detective Hakuba? I've been reading recently about all the cases you've solved, and it's rather impressive. I would think that if anyone could stop KID, it would be you."

Saguru sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, thank you for your vote of confidence, but KID is…special. I haven't come across another criminal like him before. It would be wrong to underestimate him."

The woman nodded, hanging on his every word. "It sounds like you respect KID, Detective Hakuba. What's he like as far as you can tell? What do you think about him?"

Saguru quirked an eyebrow at the young lady, his suspicions raised. "You're not a reporter, are you?" Now that he thought about it, the way she had tripped seemed a little staged.

She blushed, laughing as she put her hands up in defence. "Me? Oh, no. I'm sorry for being so nosy. I'm just a curious fan."

"Mine or his?" Saguru chuckled.

She met his eye and smiled. "Yours, of course," she replied earnestly, causing Saguru's own cheeks to color slightly.

"Well, thank you," Saguru responded, struggling to piece his composure back together. Admiration always threw him. "Let's see…you asked what I thought about KID. He's…a little whacky, eccentric, but charismatic too and a real showman. I can see why he has so many fans, despite being a criminal. He shows a real concern for the safety and wellbeing of those at his heists as well, and that leads me to believe he's a good person at heart; he just happens to break the law.

"So, yes," Saguru summarized. "I think I do respect him to a point…but I'm still going to catch him. Eventually, anyway."

The girl nodded as if accepting his assessment and then smiled and bowed (teetering slightly in her heels). "Well, I won't take any more of your time. I know you have things to do before the start of the heist, but thank you very much for chatting with me, Detective Hakuba. Good luck with KID."

"You're very welcome." Saguru returned the bow automatically. "Thank you, and be careful in those shoes."

He watched her go off, making her way towards that night's heist target to join the group milling around, trying to get a look at the gem KID was planning to steal.

Saguru pursed his lips and checked his pocket watch. There was less than ten minutes until the official start of the heist. If she hung about the tourmaline too long, she stood a good chance of getting caught up in KID's chaos.

Saguru debated going after her, but he ultimately decided that he couldn't risk being caught up in it himself if he had trouble finding her in the crowd.

At eight-thirty on the dot, the display case started filling with smoke. The owner of the gem lost it, shrieking for the guards to unlock the case. Sure enough, once this was accomplished, the smoke began to spread, and the crowd around the gem slowly began to drop one by one into slumber.

KID appeared on top of the case with an elaborate bow, scooping up the tourmaline as he stood. He greeted the crowd in general, his fans in particular, and then his Taskforce—Nakamori-keibu especially.

This caused the inspector's temper to boil over (probably by design).

"Get him!" Nakamori bellowed, and the officers not already dozing on the floor surged forward, trying to get at the thief without stepping on the people who had been sleep gassed.

"That's my cue to disappear," KID chuckled. "Good night, everyone!"

KID's gaze met Saguru's. "And make sure to check your pockets."

"The hell's that mean?!" Nakamori growled, advancing on his adversary even though it was slow going.

KID shrugged and dropped a smoke bomb.

"Don't let…anyone out of the…ballroom!" Nakamori shouted between coughs.

Meanwhile, Saguru checked his pockets and found a room key along with a little slip of paper with "#1412" written neatly on it.

The girl in the red cocktail dress. She—HE—must have slipped the key into Saguru's breast pocket when he pretended to trip and Saguru caught him.

Saguru's entire face heated up as he remembered what he'd said when KID asked what Saguru thought of KID…the way KID had looked up at Saguru and smiled, innocently insisting that KID was a fan of _Saguru's_ , of course. Saguru wondered if that had just been playacting. What did KID even think of Saguru in the first place? The initial heist had gone in Saguru's favor, but the two after that had, frankly, not been to Saguru's advantage. KID probably thought he was a fool.

Saguru wanted to go curl up in a hole and die of embarrassment. Instead, he slipped away from the ballroom and headed for room 1412.

The lights were off, and Saguru left them that way, guessing that KID was probably trying to preserve his identity.

"I trust you're not going to jump out at me," Saguru called into the darkness.

"I wasn't planning on it," KID chuckled. "Do you want me to?"

"Not really, no," Saguru snorted, making his way down the short hallway past the bath and WC into the main bedroom. The curtains were drawn wide open, letting the moonlight pour in to guide Saguru.

"You look comfortable for a cornered thief," Saguru observed when he found KID lounging on the queen size bed.

"Am I cornered?" KID purred.

"Clearly you don't consider yourself to be," Saguru sighed. "I suppose you don't think very highly of me."

"Oh, no," KID corrected, propping himself up on his elbows. "I think _very_ highly of you, Tantei-san. Why else would I go out of my way to try to impress you with my heists?"

"Egotism?" Saguru suggested.

KID rolled his eyes, sitting up. "Come. Sit." He patted beside himself on the bed.

Saguru mentally wavered. "I think you had better clarify your intentions first, KID. Why lure me to a secluded hotel room?"

KID burst into a laugh. "Why did _you_ come to a secluded hotel room?"

Saguru opened his mouth, but no logical answer was forthcoming. He closed his mouth in consternation.

KID got up and went to the window.

"Are you leaving already?" Saguru inquired, dismayed and slightly peeved at the possibility.

"Not yet," KID assured, getting out the tourmaline and holding it out to Saguru.

Saguru hesitantly came to stand next to KID and took the gem. "Did you already check it?"

KID nodded.

Saguru held the tourmaline up to the moonlight and looked at it, copying what he had seen KID do twice before. "What am I looking for?"

"A second stone," KID whispered wistfully.

"I…suppose this isn't it, then?" Saguru verified, slightly off balance at the fact that KID had answered him at all.

"No," KID sighed but put on a brave smile.

They held each other's gaze in silence for a moment.

"…Say you find the jewel with the second stone inside of it…then what?" Saguru prompted, holding his breath for the response.

KID rolled his eyes and gently admonished, "Cheating."

"Is it really cheating if I ask and you tell me?"

KID seemed to consider this for a minute before deciding, "It's cheating if you take advantage of my vulnerable state and coerce me into sharing my secrets with you."

"I'd hardly describe you as vulnerable," Saguru scoffed.

"No. You think I'm 'whacky'…'eccentric'…'charismatic'…" KID giggled.

" _That_ ," Saguru waved a finger in KID's face. "That was cheating. _You_ took advantage of _me_."

KID smirked, seeming to miss the fact that Saguru was genuinely upset. "I make a cute girl, don't I?"

Saguru snorted, crossing his arms defiantly. "Oh, how should I know?"

KID blinked. "Well, you saw me, didn't you? …Do you not like girls?"

Saguru's face flushed—whether in embarrassment or anger, KID couldn't tell—and Saguru averted his eyes. "That's none of your business," he replied coldly, but then the next second his hands went to his hips and he turned to glare at KID, leaning in and shaking his finger once more. "I'm genuinely angry at you. That was low, tricking me into saying all that so that you could mock me and gloat later."

KID's brow furrowed. "Tantei-san, I'm not mocking you."

"Oh?" Saguru challenged. "What about when you said you were my fan? Hm? Batting your eyes and all that. Weren't you mocking me?"

It seemed to Saguru that even KID's neck turned pink as KID turned away and mumbled. "But I really am your fan."

It was Saguru's turn to blink in speechless confusion. "…Sorry?"

KID bashfully met Saguru's gaze. "I'm a member of two of your online fanclubs. I'd show you my membership cards, but they have my real name on them, so that would be cheating."

Saguru stared stupidly for what felt like a full five minutes before he could respond, "You're serious."

KID shrugged nonchalantly, trying to salvage some of his dignity. "…The stars are pretty."

"…Smooth change of topic," Saguru noted.

"Thanks."

Saguru chuckled. "I was being sarcastic."

KID made a soft sound of acknowledgment but kept his gaze on the sky.

"…Why did you bring me here? You could have just gotten away…. I don't understand you." Saguru blew out a long breath.

" _You_ brought you here. I simply invited you," KID hummed quietly. "But…there are lots of reasons. It's easier to just give the jewel back to you. That makes you look good too, so hopefully it'll convince the rest of the Taskforce to keep you around."

"Oh? Why would you want that?" Saguru wondered, lifting an eyebrow slightly. "I know I've been a bit of an embarrassment to myself lately, but don't I make things at least a little more complicated for you?"

"That's a good thing," KID chuckled to himself. "You make things more fun."

"You're insane," Saguru decreed. "I reiterate: I don't understand you."

KID shrugged, going back over to sit on the bed.

Frowning, Saguru followed.

KID sprawled across the bed, head tipped back and eyes closed peacefully as if he had no qualms whatsoever about the detective standing over him.

Saguru's stomach clenched, and he had to force himself to stay professional. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing here. If someone found out, I could get in so much trouble," he reminded himself out loud for both of their benefit. "What is wrong with me? A thief extends a private invitation up to his hotel room after his heist, and I come without backup—worse—without telling anyone. I shouldn't be doing this. I should arrest you."

KID lazily opened his eyes and smiled. "Do you have your cuffs on you?"

Without a word, Saguru got them out.

KID docilely held out a wrist.

Three deep lines carved themselves into Saguru's forehead. "What's your game?"

"Usually tag," KID snickered. "If you feel obligated to cuff me, Tantei-san, go ahead and cuff me."

Saguru tentatively reached out and slowly closed one of the manacles around KID's wrist. Then he studied his work, all the while feeling uneasy.

"Aren't you supposed to secure me to you now?" KID inquired as if he were merely an unbiased observer. "So that I don't get away?"

"R-right," Saguru replied shakily, fastening the other cuff around his own wrist. "…I caught you."

KID smirked. " _I_ caught _you_."

Saguru was about to ask what KID meant, but just then KID yanked on the cuffs binding him to Saguru, throwing the detective off balance. Saguru tumbled down onto the bed on top of KID, and KID took advantage of Saguru's shock to flip them over so that KID was on top. At the same time, KID somehow managed to slip out of his restraint and fasten the cuff around one of the metal bars lining the headboard instead.

Saguru stared up at KID in utter disbelief.

KID grinned cheekily, but only for a moment. He quickly dismounted and stood to straighten his attire.

Still partially stunned, Saguru sat up and pulled experimentally at the cuffs. When they proved solidly fastened, he began to frantically search his pockets for the key.

KID cleared his throat and held up the object in question.

"Oh, for the love of…" Saguru muttered sullenly. "I can't believe you. You actually bloody well chained me to the bed, you smegging imp."

"'Smegging'?" KID giggled. "I haven't heard that one before. I assume it's not a nice word?"

"It's from a show, and you assume correctly," Saguru grumbled. "Let me out."

"Why?" KID beamed maniacally. "I like you like this."

"This is not funny, KID. Think of the implications. Think of the rumors that will spread. My reputation will be shredded," Saguru hissed, mind reeling.

"It's not like you're naked or anything." KID rolled his eyes. "You're overreacting."

"KID," Saguru warned through gritted teeth.

"Fiiine," KID sighed, setting the key down on the nightstand out of Saguru's reach. He also fished a paperclip out of one of his interdimensional pockets and handed it to Saguru. "Set yourself free. It's a valuable skill."

Saguru's face fell. "You're not serious."

KID shrugged. "Set yourself free or call someone to get the key for you. I've been more than generous with you in the past."

"But if Nakamori-keibu and his men see me, they'll—"

"—So don't call them," KID argued. "Can't you call your dad?"

Saguru's face went pale as moonlight. He shook his head vigorously. "Absolutely not. That would be worse than Nakamori and the Taskforce."

KID's brow furrowed. "Seriously?"

Saguru nodded.

KID's expression became even more troubled. "…Okay, but there has to be someone you trust to come get you out, if you can't do it yourself. I mean, who would you call if you needed help moving a body?"

Saguru gave KID an odd look before responding, "She would be extremely disappointed in me."

"Sounds like you better use your phone to watch some YouTube videos on picking locks and getting out of handcuffs," KID chuckled, preparing to go.

"I'm going to get you back for this," Saguru muttered, getting out his phone and following KID's advice. "Now leave before I free myself and take my revenge."

"Don't be mad, Tantei-san," KID cajoled.

"Silence, imp." Saguru avoided KID gaze. "I'm within my rights to be sore about this."

KID produced a lavender rose and set it down on the sheets. "I'm sorry, Tantei-san, but if I let you go now, I'm afraid you'd cuff me and cart me off to jail out of spite."

Saguru stared at the rose, considering it. "Don't think you can sweettalk me that easily, KID."

"By which you mean that it is theoretically possible to sweettalk you," KID hummed.

"Theoretically, but I doubt you have the requisite number of rich tea biscuits and jammie dodgers on hand, so I would suggest you leave before I get free and throttle you," Saguru huffed.

KID shrugged. "I know when I'm not wanted. Bonsoir, Monsieur Sherlock Holmes."

"Bonsoir, Monsieur Arsène Lupin," Saguru muttered in reply.

"See you Tuesday."

…

KID did not see Saguru on Tuesday. Saguru was still too mortified at having to call Baaya to come rescue him. Unfortunately, Baaya couldn't get into the room without a keycard, so the front desk got involved, and this led to the Taskforce and Nakamori finding out as well.

Once Baaya got into the room, the first thing she said upon see Saguru was, "Just what were you and that thief getting up to? I thought you told me it wasn't like that?"

Saguru skipped school the next day as well as the heist the day after that.

KID, upon noticing the missing detective and inquiring of a Taskforce member about him, learned what had happened and decided to reschedule the heist for the following evening. He sent a personal invitation to Saguru, entreating the detective to come and begging forgiveness for Sunday.

Saguru reluctantly attended Wednesday's heist and went after KID with a vengeance, culminating in a confrontation in the basement of the museum where KID was attempting to escape via subterranean tunnel.

"I said I was sorry!" KID squeaked, dodging Saguru's lunge.

"My _father_ found out," Saguru seethed. "Do you know how humiliated I was? Now hold still while I put you in a straightjacket and cart you off to prison."

"Can we talk about this? I didn't _mean_ for things to get so out of hand," KID pleaded. "Have mercy, Tantei-san!"

"No. I am _mad_ at you," Saguru retorted, trying to back KID into a corner.

All of a sudden, KID stopped and held still. "Fine," he sighed, dropping his hands to his sides in surrender.

Saguru pursed his lips. "'Fine'?"

"Fine," KID repeated with a shrug. "I was in the wrong, and I'm sorry about it. Do what you need to do."

Saguru stared dumbly at his rival, all of his anger strangely gone.

KID tipped his head to the side. "Well?"

"It was easier to be angry when you were fighting back," Saguru muttered.

"…I see." KID rubbed at the back of his neck. "Well…. Did you want to try to cuff me, and I'll run around and dodge?"

"…Sure," Saguru agreed awkwardly, getting out his handcuffs.

He chased KID around the basement for a few minutes, careful to avoid knocking over any priceless statues or ancient vases. There was a close call with a stack of books on one of the curators' desks, but KID managed to catch them and put them back in order all while dodging Saguru's grab.

This exercise did not end well for Saguru. KID feinted left, and Saguru ended up cuffing an old pipe instead of the thief. Worse yet, while Saguru was still distracted by the pipe, KID managed to snap the other cuff closed around Saguru's wrist, effectively chaining the detective to the pipe.

"Are you even serious?" Saguru growled.

KID smiled sheepishly.

Saguru was not amused. "And I bet you've already pickpocketed the key."

KID held up the key and shrugged in a flippant, "What do you do?" manner.

"Come closer so I can throttle you," Saguru intoned sweetly.

"That doesn't sound like any fun. Thank you, though," KID politely declined.

Saguru sighed, hanging his head. "Are you at least going to give me the gem back to help me save face?"

KID bit his lip. "I haven't checked it yet…. Sorry."

Saguru's crestfallen expression sank even more. "I can check it, can't I? I just have to hold it up to the moon and look for a second gem, right?"

KID gave Saguru a funny look. "And then what? Give it back to me if it's the right one?"

"Oh." Saguru blushed. "I didn't really think that through, did I?"

"And it's not like I can steal it a second time. That would tip off the wrong people."

Saguru let out a long sigh and slid to the floor. "May I have a paperclip, please?"

KID handed one over. "Look. Why don't you work on that, and I'll be back in, like, ten minutes provided I don't run into any issues. That should give me enough time to check the jewel and bring it back, okay?"

Saguru studied KID for a minute or so and then nodded. "I would appreciate that. It would help if I had something to show for my efforts. Maybe then they would gradually forget about the whole chained-to-the-bed-incident."

Ten minutes later, KID came back and handed over the emerald he had stolen.

"Any luck?" Saguru sighed.

"No. You?" KID matched Saguru's gloomy tone.

"Unequivocally, no."

"Here. Stand up," KID urged, coming up behind Saguru to help guide his hand. "Like this."

The latch popped open, but KID snapped it closed again before Saguru could get free.

"One more time?" Saguru looked pleadingly back over his shoulder at KID.

"One more time, but no cheating," KID warned.

"No cheating," Saguru promised. "Besides, I want to learn how to do this myself, since I always seem to end up tied up or in cuffs in some way, shape, or form with you. It would be useful to know how to escape."

"That's the spirit," KID encouraged, showing him once more.

"Why _do_ I always end up tied up?" Saguru shot KID an accusatory glance. "Are you into bondage or something?"

KID thought about it for a minute then shrugged. "I've never tried bondage before. I don't think _I_ would like being tied up, but I'm open to experimentation. How do you feel about bondage?"

Saguru stared blankly at KID. "I can't believe we're having this conversation. I was just teasing, but…so far, I'm not enjoying this. Maybe if _I_ got to put _you_ in cuffs for once."

"I'll consider it," KID teased, going to sit on top of the closest desk. "But in all seriousness, I restrain you for two reasons: one, you're dangerous. I would be remiss if I didn't take you out of commission in one form or another. You're a major threat to my mission."

"What's the second reason?" Saguru inquired while he continued his attempts to successfully pick the lock.

"For your own protection."

"Be pardon?" Saguru looked up and frowned at KID.

"So no one gets the wrong idea if they happen to walk in on us. If you're tied up, you're a captive audience. No one could say that you were standing there talking with me of your own free will instead of stopping the thief like you're supposed to. No one could get silly ideas about you being my accomplice, right?"

Saguru didn't respond. That had never occurred to him.

They sat in silence for over a full minute.

Saguru took a break from his struggle with the handcuffs and looked up at KID who was sitting, watching over him. "How old are you?"

KID clicked his tongue.

"Cheating," Saguru beat him to it.

"How old do you think I am?" KID chuckled.

"Objectively speaking, based on the hypothesis that you are not the original KID but his successor, you should be somewhere under thirty, preferably in your early to mid-twenties, to accomplish the broad range of athletic feats you're constantly performing. However, if we look at the types and amount of specialized knowledge you possess, it would be more reasonable to put your age in your late twenties or possibly early thirties."

"Conclusion?" KID prompted, a wide grin stretching across his face.

"That data leads me to believe that you are somewhere around twenty-five."

"Only you don't sound so convinced," KID observed.

"No. You're correct. The data doesn't convince me because I look at you—what I catch glimpses of—and I interact with you, and I get the impression you're much younger than twenty-five. I would say under twenty, possibly even my own age," Saguru concluded. "Though, if you are my age, you're quite the exceptional specimen."

This description amused KID. "Oh, am I?" he chuckled. "If I am your age, that is?"

"Indeed," Saguru pressed, stroking KID's ego. "I'd go so far as to say that you were a prodigy."

"Like you?" KID mused.

"Better," Saguru admitted.

"I doubt I'm better," KID snorted. "Just different."

The locking mechanism clicked, and the handcuff came undone.

Saguru stared at his wrist in amazement. "I did it?"

"Good job!" KID praised, clapping the detective on the back. "Here's the key back, but see if you can't get the cuff off of the pipe by picking it too. It'll be good practice. I've got to go, but I'll see you on Sunday. It's going to be extra special, so make sure you come, all right?"

"I'll be there," Saguru promised, setting to work at the other cuff's lock.

"Good," KID chuckled. "Now, let's try this in English this time. I say: 'Goodnight, Mr. Sherlock Holmes'. You say?"

Saguru blinked and then smiled, replying in English. "Goodnight, Mrs. Godfrey Norton."

KID rolled his eyes. "You can call me 'Irene', you know."

Saguru shook his head. "I do believe canon states that to Holmes she was always 'the woman'."

"Do _you_ have a pet name for _me_ , Tantei-san?" KID wondered.

The paperclip went flying out of Saguru's hand. He picked it up and tried to avoid facing KID. He cleared his throat and replied, "I'd hardly call it a 'pet name'. 'Imp' and 'that thief' spat with ire hardly constitute terms of affection."

Saguru was not going to reveal that Baaya had long ago taken to calling KID Saguru's thief back when Saguru was in London, devotedly following all of KID's heists from afar.

"Don't worry," KID teased. "I'm sure you'll come up with something suitably gushy soon, Tantei-san."

Saguru was tempted to smack himself in the face…or possibly KID's face…but the thief was gone.

…

Mikau: I love these two dorks. They're precious. Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the extra-long chapter. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Which heist was your favorite? Did you have a favorite exchange between the boys? I liked the part where Kaito cannot conceptualize a reality where one's parents wouldn't be willing to move a body for their child. He has no way of understanding what Hakuba's relationship with his parents is like because Kaito is so close with his own "parents". I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter done, but it should be exciting as well. Next chapter Hakuba Saguru meets Kuroba Kaito. Look forward to it. Until then, take care everybody. Thanks for reading!


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